If a school decides to use a contact tracing app, they could implement a QR code method which would need to be scanned to get into academic buildings and common areas. If you are notified that you have been exposed and need to quarantine, your QR code would be a different color (say Red)… you would not be allowed entrance into common areas or academic buildings… you would need to go immediately to testing and then return and remain in your room for some period of time. If off campus, then you could not quarantine if you wish. but the school can not enforce off campus activities only on campus.
But the QR code would not return to Green or open status until such time as the student (or facility or staff) takes the appropriate action to clear the exposed status.
China, South Korea and other countries have utilized this type of system and it has worked well.
While it is doubtful we could use it in cities, it could be used in colleges where they could require it for attendance. Non compliance or refusal means you get to take your classes online only from home… not allowed on campus … period.
No, it is the opposite. Isolate the infected. Quarantine the exposed, some of whom will develop covid-19, some won’t. Those quarantining must be kept separate from those who are infected and isolating.
At the end of the day, no plan is going to be perfect. I think the goal of colleges right now is to limit the spread of the illness in the fall the best they can so they can get the campuses open in this academic year. No plan is going to be 100% effective.
Most students, faculty and administrators will comply with these new procedures and policies but some will not and that will have been factored in to whether or not the college feel they can open safely without major spikes in infection rates.
Colleges will be modifying and adapting their plans often as more data comes on what’s working and what’s not. It’s a very fluid “experiment” to see if it’s possible to have an open campus during a active pandemic.
Some colleges will take a conservative approach and not even open (CSUs), other colleges think they have a good plan and will try to execute it. It will be fascinating to see if colleges can stay open in the fall. I personally think some will be able to pull it off. I could be wrong though?
I think this last issue is why some of us think that reopening campuses is either unlikely or will cause many outbreaks. It seems to me that some parents/students will promise the moon in terms of social distancing or listening to rules, until they get a campus reopened, but then quickly assume that the rules won’t actually apply.
Well many members of the Alabama football team just tested positive. They are students also
Look to see how this is handled. Might give a clue of what is yet to come.
By September, things may look very different. Even NYC is opening up a bit, with up to 400k expected to return to work this week. Some of those 400k will use the subway to get to work. As people go out more and restaurants, shops, and amusement venues open up, virus cases will increase everywhere, not just on college campuses. I do not think colleges will adopt much stricter measures or different practices than the surrounding towns.
@fretfulmother I think the quarantining is more likely to work if all students who test positive have to check in somewhere else for their quarantining time. If universities can make space for it, it seems like they could insist on it. Schools are making this up as they go. They can make the rules whatever they want. We’ve all seen fraternity houses. My H was in a house. I just don’t see many of those students finding a space in the house and staying there. And what about kids who live in apartments with maybe just one other student? What do they do if one of them is positive? Both would have to stay in - one isolated, one quarantined with no food service from the university. Better to have a place they can go.
Colleges will have a hard enough time finding space to quarantine or isolate the students in dorms, no one has space to suddenly accommodate the off campus kids.
Compliance won’t be 100% anywhere. On smaller campuses, or campuses where adherence to honor codes is more faithfully observed traditionally, the risk may be smaller. On other campuses, schools are at the mercy of the virus and luck.
I agree but the difference is that an adult out in the world can make their own choices about how to quarantine or not, when to test or not. Sounds like, on college campuses, there will be rules and their goal is to catch as many of the positives as possible. Out in the world, there are going to be a lot of people who get mild symptoms, don’t test, and recover. If colleges are going to insist on kids staying inside for 14 days if positive and also isolating anyone who has been near them, that creates a whole different type of model.
And @knowstuff -that will be interesting!! ND football players going back to quarantine together in a hotel for a week before conditioning starts. Sounds like they’ll be able to be out of their rooms and sort of quarantine as a group unless some of them test positive at the beginning.
Editing to add - just looked up the Alabama football player issue. Very little info on that. The university isn’t disclosing what their protocol is for those infected players or for players who were near them. Are we going to be in a situation where so many students will test positive that they schools will have to change their initial policies? I have to wonder.
People coming from off campus daily that spend appreciable time on campus:
Faculty
Administrators
Commuter students
Off campus students
Food service staff
Landscapers
Security
Cleaning staff
Retail staff
People coming daily for short periods of time:
Mail/UPS/FedEx
Outside vendor deliveries
Uber eats/takeout delivery
Parents/siblings
Prospective student tours
Visting athletic teams
Trash service
Law enforcement/firefighter/EMS
Are schools going to forbid students from leaving campus to shop for items for their room, or computer paper and ink? Will they not allow students to go to a coffee shop?
How does a security person (or anyone else) know if someone is “obviously” not a student?
Selectively asking for college ID (as opposed to asking everyone) could lead to some sort of undesired discrimination or unequal treatment, or the appearance of such.
The testing-upon-arrival-to-campus policy worked like it should, and identified infected individuals, five per one report, but details are few and far between.
It sounds like at least one player did interact with others before finding out the test results…we shall see if this turns in to a large breakout, or if those positive were isolated quickly enough.
Agree. We’ve been talking alot about this with my Rice student. At her school everything is centered around meals. Their dining facilities are open for a limited period of time and classes, meetings, clubs, etc. stop during those periods, Meals are the social times. And the food is good. Each dining hall has a chef, some have pastry chefs. My daughter is into food, but likes to eat healthy and likes variety. Though she’s not vegetarian or vegan she probably tends to eat that way more often than not. Food is one of the reasons she picked her school. Does she get that things will be different this year? Absolutely. Obviously something will have to be done to decrease density, which will change the social aspect of meals. And I assume things won’t be buffet style. Over the summer it sounds like they did boxed meals and it seems to be very basic, with little variety. She would definitely survive but we would not be be getting what we are paying a lot for. In addition, my D has to eat due to some medical stuff. Not getting enough or not being able to choose and get something she likes and will eat is a problem and means we’ll be paying more for her to have something else delivered.
I feel for the schools. It seems like things are changing rapidly across the country from week to week. Here in Wisconsin restaurants can be open. Many are not, many are serving outside only and many are reducing capacity by choice, but they are open and more and more are opening and increasing capacity. But the schools are going to need to start making decisions soon for 2 months from now. I think in most states things will be pretty much open by then, except for maybe a handful of places. I guess one of the differences is people can choose whether or not to go to restaurants - and I’d say they are not packing them in where I live at all. On campus college students have to go to the cafeteria if they have a meal plan. So they need to have good safety strategies in place and maybe options for students who want them, like offering to-go options even if they are serving.
Depends on the school but if your infected you shouldn’t be going to the coffee shop either. Staying home (in room) means just that. Hope delivery services have decent rates.
My son hasn’t decided on his room arrangements yet which is unheard of at his school. Things sell out quickly. He is looking at some coops housing with single rooms. We are watching but he needs to decide soon. It might be just easier if he gets a single apartment. If he gets sick then he can just quartine and not worry about others.
Other thing to consider is Arbnb
Since no football games to rent to they should be plentiful. Might have to resort to putting a kid there. Don’t know.