Doesn’t @GKUnion 's kid work in an EMT or ambulance job or some such? If so, then he may have greater needs for such supplies than most people.
Public K-12 school funding is often tied to enrollment. I.e. for each student enrolled in the district, some other level of government gives the district $x (think of it as some other level of government paying $x in tuition on behalf of the student). So if enrollment drops for some reason, the district loses $x times the number of students it has fewer of.
He can also share with his roommates/friends, who may not be as inclined to using it as he is. D used to always be carrying around a mini bottle, but I never used it AT ALL. Now I use it when I go into the stores or other places where there are stands, but I haven’t used much at home, since I just wash instead. I guess it’s good to have around though. H and I are more “germ friendly” than most people, lol.
People around here seem to be pretty much trying to return to “normal”. We’ve been out to eat (inside and out) 4 times, to church, and to any other places we’re inclined for shopping, including test driving cars as we have resumed our search for a new SUV.
On the topic of care packs for the kids to bring with them to campus, I have found that Vitamin C (actually oranges) really help after I have caught a cold, and others swear by it – being that coronavirus is of same family (so to speak), a bottle of Vitamin C may help a little. At least ward off colds perhaps which have some similar symptons as CV19 and could cause false alarm.
I read somewhere that Zinc and also Vitamin D seems to help with warding off this virus. So maybe the Vitamin D should be via sunlight, but perhaps a vitamin D pill every other day may help the students also.
If there are any herbal remedies specialists or doctors on this board, perhaps they can recommend other natural herbs that have medicinal properties that could boost overall health? Someone once told me tumeric and cardamon (?) but that sounds very complicated LOL! And of course a balanced diet is best but for college kids that is hard to do sometimes.
I also know there are dangers with taking any old herbs and vitamins and overdoing it also, so would be mindful of that aspect also.
We use hand sanitizer anytime we go to a store, public building, etc. we use soap and water again when we get home. We rarely, if ever, use it at home. I don’t know what kind of public dispensers y’all have, but ours are usually awful. They always REEK and often are so slimy. The slime stays on even after it dries. H tricked me into using some out today and ugh. I immediately had to find the bathroom to scrub it off.
And it’s next to impossible to find unstinky hand sanitizer here. I look every single time we are out. Hand soap is still tough to find. They have some exotic brands on the shelves, but generic soft soap, or dial or stuff like that? Usually 2-3 bottles sitting looking lonely on the shelf.
And as of now, all of S’ classes are f2f. I suspect he will be out and about on campus a lot.
Yep. And the governor cut $300 million in K-12 funding in May due to the decrease in tax revenue. To make matters worse, many of the K-12 public schools are announcing that they will be remote at least through the first 9 weeks. Parents who don’t want remote are opting out of the public school and enrolling in small private schools that are returning face to face or are creating neighborhood homeschools, further reducing the funding for the public schools.
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Not my school but…add College of the Holy Cross in Worcester Mass to the list.
Maybe the Broad Institute took for granted most schools would go fully online…
Our local schools have unveiled a plan whereby half the students attend M/Th and half attend T/F, with W being an all online day for everyone. The only exception is special ed students, who attend 5 days (M-F). My neighbor is a special ed teacher in the district. She has a 13-year-old and 10-year-old twins. She does not know what she will do, as her kids are only in for 2 days a week and she has to be in for 5. Her husband can work 1 day a week from home. She can’t make the 13-year-old responsible for his siblings. I feel for her. This is a mess. Daycare (as opposed to aftercare) isn’t really available for school-age kids because no one really thought this population would need it.
The state has decreed that any students who want 100% remote learning can be accommodated. In our district, the deadline for choosing this option is August 4.
Wellesley is using Broad Institute also
Just saw a story on the local news about UNC-CH- they released their tracker for covid. They have had around 170 cases (no idea the length of time). Eleven students this past week. One number I saw was the overall positivity rate of 10.9%. The kids haven’t started true move in. They seem to have about 80 beds for isolation and 60 for quarantine- I can’t remember exact numbers.
There was also another story about how unclean some of the dorms are. The one they showed was pretty bad.
Our local SD announced virtual learning will continue into the Fall, to be reassessed at the end of the first quarter. All Fall sports and in person EC activities are suspended. The numbers here in Ohio are not great and our county’s public health dept announced a recommendation for all virtual learning.
Ohio State is moving towards welcoming students (I suspect dorms will have 80% freshmen). Most, but not all freshmen have received dorm assignments. Yesterday online scheduling for move-in day began, and my son picked his day. One of his HS classmate’s entire dorm was moved to the on campus hotel, which was a big surprise and a curious development.
And tOSU shared its testing program yesterday. Given it is the third largest university in the US, their smart monitoring through random testing and publishing that info will be useful for all colleges:
“ COVID-19 testing program
As part of the university’s plans to return to on-campus operations in autumn, we are implementing a testing program based on recommendations from our Safe Campus and Scientific Advisory Subgroup and guidance from federal, state and local health authorities.
Broadly, Ohio State’s testing strategy will combine:
Surveillance testing to monitor COVID-19 in random samples of asymptomatic undergraduate students
Testing of symptomatic and exposed students, faculty and staff
Voluntary asymptomatic testing for faculty, staff, graduate students and professional students
Targeted testing should COVID-19 hotspots be identified
A tool that will enable the university to share aggregate information with the public in a way that protects individuals’ medical and educational privacy
Before autumn classes begin, a random sample of up to 6,500 undergraduate students will be identified for testing by Student Life Student Health Services. Students who test positive will be required to remain in isolation — at their homes if they have not yet moved into campus housing or, if they have, in on-campus isolation housing. Positive test results will be shared with the appropriate health authority and the university’s contact tracing team. Information about the contact tracing process will be shared in future updates.
The Office of Student Life will be contacting undergraduate students as they are selected for the surveillance testing program to provide details about the process.
The student sample testing results will be used to establish the baseline prevalence of positive cases on campus. This will be monitored and compared to results from ongoing student testing that will occur over the course of the semester. The prevalence data will inform any future actions we may need to take in helping to ensure the safety of the university community.
In addition to surveillance testing, students with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 will be referred to Student Life Student Health Services or an alternative health care provider for evaluation and testing. Faculty and staff members with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 will be referred for evaluation and testing through Wexner Medical Center testing facilities, their personal physicians or an alternative testing site. Again, positive test results will be forwarded to the appropriate health authority and referred for contact tracing through the university’s contact tracing team.
Asymptomatic faculty and staff, graduate students and professional students may opt in to voluntary testing at a Wexner Medical Center site. Finally, ongoing monitoring may identify hotspots where additional, targeted testing is warranted.
The university will cover the cost of asymptomatic testing.
While all elements of this testing strategy are important and we do not anticipate having to limit testing at this time, should capacity become limited because of supply shortages, tests for symptomatic individuals will be prioritized. As always, the university will monitor closely and adapt our approach based on evolving information, guidance and scientific evidence.
Compliance with testing, isolation and quarantine procedures is expected as one of the conditions of returning to campus.”
Unclear so far when students will receive their notice to be tested; I assume test kits will be mailed to those selected. Will post details later which I suspect will be emailed to students and parents very soon.
Only about 140 beds for isolation and quarantine combined at a university with almost 20K undergrads? Amherst has multiple hundred isolation/quarantine beds for only about 1,200 students returning. The idea that only 140 quarantine/isolation beds would be sufficient for a school as large as UNC seems questionable, to say the least.
I would think MIT & Harvard are using the Broad Institute for their testing as well.
So schools using Broad institute, can you add your school to a list?
Are any of these wrong so far?
Note some schools will have limited students on campus, but ya get the drift.
Total UG enrollment (? testing faculty)
Amherst College 1,849
Bates College 1,832,
Bowdoin College 1,835.
Colby College 1,815
Connecticut College 1,903
Hamilton College 1,850
Middlebury College 2,579
Trinity College 2,098
Tufts University 11878
Wesleyan University 3,000
Williams College 2,073
BC 14,125
Quinnipiac 10,200
Wellesley College, 2,474
Emerson College 3,855
Clark University in Worcester 2,204
University of Massachusetts Medical School ? maybe about 1000
Brandeis 5,945
Northeastern 19,940
College of the Holy Cross in Worcester Mass 3,020
Harvard : Harvard College: 6,699
Graduate and professional students: 13,120
Harvard Extension School: 16,193 ? Are these all online anyway?)
Tufts only has about 5,643 undergrads (per US News & World Report) and Brandeis has about 3,639; I thought you were only counting the undergrad enrollment?
Does anyone else see the irony in this? ?
Our County Health Officer issues an order prohibiting private schools (pre-school through HS) from opening through 10/1/20.
Private school parents are outraged, including those you recently transferred their kids from public hoping for F2F instruction. Our public schools will be virtually only for at least the first semester
Inadequate planning for quarantine/isolation rooms is likely to be the biggest risk these colleges face in the fall. What do they do if they run out of these beds? Send the kids home?
Some schools in my area have announced what I think is even a worse plan: The kids are broken up into a morning group and an afternoon group. The kids go to school 4 days a week with Friday being completely remote. The morning group is in school 8:30 am - 10:30 am while the afternoon group attends from 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm. My friend is scrambling to find childcare options for her two elementary-aged kids.