@homerdog Yes. The college cited setting aside rooms for quarantine as a reason for delaying the housing selection process. Also, this was one of the NESCAC schools, so it is a small residential college.
@Mwfan1921 At Amherst College (where I go), most of the international students are staying on-campus (likely because their ability to return may be in jeopardy if they leave). Also, I think the number may be partially offset by students taking time off of college or even leaving college altogether. I do agree though that there is limited housing; I would think if they had quarantine rooms, they would have to do that for entire floors or entire houses or make the singles with their own shower and bathroom quarantine rooms. I think it is possible they may buy out local houses or rent out floors on hotels. Either way, colleges can be very creative.
@ChemAM Our S is a student at a NESCAC so I get it. I just didn’t realize any school stated that reason specifically.
I’m not sure why social distancing keeps being mentioned in regard to kids living back on a campus. Sure, some new rules could be in place. Maybe fewer kids in class or meals all to go but, really, do we think college students are going to be donning masks while in their dorms and socializing? Seems to me that all of the social distancing changes that could be “officially” made wouldn’t even make a difference since kids are flat out going to be near each other for most of the time.
On campus living isn’t going to happen if social distancing is still a very real thing. We will have to be much further down the recovery road.
This may be off topic- but it is related to schools opening, so i will ask. Why do you think vaccines are likely 2 years away? From everything I personally have knowledge of, and everything I heard, vaccines should be available end of 2020 the earliest for emergency use, and by Q1 2021 for most, June 2021 for all.
K-12 schools would be more analogous to the majority of colleges that are community colleges or commuter-based universities (although their commuters come from somewhat larger regions than K-12 schools).
The colleges that these forums focus on have additional issues to work out, like close quarters dorm living, and that students and parents are paying a premium for “the residential college experience” and may not like paying that premium for distance education (so there is talk about gap semesters/years).
I suspect that these are the sort of stat scenarios that administrations are trying to understand and how they might play out in dorm living:
Mardi Gras February 25
2 weeks March 13 36 cases
3 weeks March 20 479 cases
4 weeks March 27 2746 cases
5 weeks April 3 10,297 cases
6 week April 10 19,253 cases
7 week April 17 23,118 cases
https://covidtracking.com/data/state/louisiana#historical
There may never be an effective vaccine, and there will almost certainly not be widespread vaccinations this year.
I question #1, particularly for those on the coasts. Our SoCal town has a large Asian population, with many international students in K12, so cross-border movement is constant once we open back up. And that impacts local businesses too, as they use dry cleaners, grocery stores, package delivery stores, gas stations, and the like…
A college set up around a distance learning business model could offer the education at a much lower cost than a college set up for an in-person business model.
However, a college set up for an in-person business model that switches to distance learning will see its costs go up, because it has to add IT-related costs onto its existing costs, much of which are inefficient or wasted when doing distance learning but are fixed obligations for the near and medium term (e.g. number of instructors and support staff, buildings with now-empty classrooms, now-empty dorms in the case of residential colleges).
@TheVulcan I didn’t say vaccines will be widely available this year.
True, @Iamdch , that is what my physician friend told me was the main reason an Ivy league (i dont want to name) closed early. My physician friend is a prominent dr and decision maker in that hospital.
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My D19 registered for fall classes recently, and signed up for a drawing class, figuring that may translate better to an online environment. She’s not an art major, just needed an art elective. But I agree, some majors have it worse than others, if classes are online.
Personally, I go by vaccine development history. Mumps vaccine took 4 years, Ebola 5…those were the fastest vaccines ever developed. There are some viruses we have never been able to develop a vaccine for.
Of course we have many more companies and governments investing money on a Covid-19 vaccine than those previous efforts.
In reality, the World needs more than one vaccine to work…manufacturing 7+ billion doses and logistically administering said doses will take a long time. Likely measured in years.
Expect political issues to arise as well when decisions are made about distributing vaccine doses. For example, if a Chinese company is the first with an effective vaccine, I expect their citizens are first in line.
Here’s what the big money thinks. They have a lot of resources and smart people. Always follow the money.
https://am.jpmorgan.com/us/institutional/library/eotm-coronavirus-covid-19-research-compilation
I said it earlier. Replace dorm with cruise ship. They’re pretty comparable. Close quarters living with cafeterias. What if there’s a breakout in a dorm? Will they quarantine them like a cruise ship? Not a pretty picture.
Any hope of a vaccine this year is wishful thinking. Even new antiviral drugs this year is wishful thinking.
Until they can ramp-up PPE production, and that might take awhile, any talk of reopening has to be limited. I know healthcare people that are on week 4 of reusing masks.
A vaccine that is not widely available is no good to anyone in this situation.
The point is, as of right now any talk of vaccines is merely a speculation (as is much of this thread). We know for a fact there won’t be a proven vaccine available this year, and we do not know whether there will ever be a vaccine at all.
Many viruses still have no effective vaccines. We never had coronavirus vaccines before, and we do not even know if effective coronavirus immunity is possible in principle.
I think transoceanic travels will be way down for the rest of the year due to the lack of flights, apprehensions about international travel and safety (the popular coastal cities/towns are the most infected by the virus), and any travel restrictions that may still be in place. Those international residents who have returned to their own countries are unlikely to be back en masse by this fall.
@chmcm – except cruise ships are filled with much older people with many more underlying conditions and worse outcomes.
The most serious need is to protect faculty and staff from infected students, esp. since many are likely to be asymptomatic.
@homerdog – I hear you on social distancing – I think it’ll be in place but not to the nth degree. I think a lot will be focused on protecting faculty and staff from students – so masks while walking in buildings, in the student union and other public spaces. I don’t see masks in your own dorm room but maybe while walking through campus. Not sure you can keep students from hanging out together, but there will need to be limits on large gatherings – say 25 or more? Maybe more distance between seating in dining halls and where the staff work? Deep sanitation measures, of course.
Masks in class? Seems hard to have a great conversation that way in discussion-based classes. If they can configure classrooms with more distance and have the faculty farther way maybe it’s not needed for classes for 25 or less…
I think my D would agree to some social distancing and giving up parties if it means being back on campus.
How is the college going to protect its students from potentially asymptomatic faculty and staff who live with family who are also out in the real world? Their family members may be working in a large office building, or an Amazon warehouse, or a grocery store, or a K-12 school.
My D19 ordered some clothes online last week and said they are for “block” (pre-game frat parties). I said, I have some bad news. Block is cancelled this year.