Interesting they didn’t give a reason. Testing is not going to be the reason for the last minute change… My guess is that the financials didn’t work- 20% of MH students are international and full pay, and they aren’t coming to campus. When bills went out, they probably got more kids requesting gaps or online than expected, and pressure from profs and the town, plus follow the herd mentality made it a lot easier to say - thanks for not transferring when you could, now we know you can’t, sorry - all online. They can save a lot by laying off all the non-faculty.
I highly doubt there will be a vaccine (or at least one that all students can get) before second semester. I do think that rapid tests that kids could take daily would be a game changer so I’m rooting for that as the way to save spring semester.
Right, kids are not going to be the top of the list for vaccination, even if there is a vaccine. And even if there is a vaccine, vaccination period, is the bigger challenge. I don’t hear any medical people being ultra chipper about the 2020 period at all.
" There honestly is some pretty shockingly good news about vaccines that could be ready to go possibly by December."
Can you cite a source (not media) for that? And what do you think ready to go really means?
D just got her first take-home test in the mail from Amherst before returning, sent by overnight delivery. So evidently, as of yesterday, they’re sticking with their plan. Hopefully things don’t change…
UIUC (Illinois) news that sounds promising…non-invasive, quick turn around, favorable comparison to nasal swab test results and cheaper. fingers crossed
Rapid tests, better treatments, upcoming vaccine, and more knowledge about the disease (that caught the world by surprise ) will all help bring students back to campus. We know a lot more than we did in March.
My beloved Fauci (heart, heart, heart) is “cautiously optimistic” about vaccine possibly by year-end: “The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told lawmakers Friday on Capitol Hill he is “cautiously optimistic” a coronavirus vaccine would be available in the coming months, as infectious continue to rise at an alarming rate in the U.S.“We hope at the time we get into the late fall and early winter, we will have in fact a vaccine that we can say will be safe and effective,” Fauci said before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. “One can never guarantee the safety and effectiveness unless you do the trial, but we are cautiously optimistic.”” (this is from Voice of America, but quoted in many places if you google that; I’m not sure what you mean by not media).
Here’s just one recent article from the WSJ, but perhaps this is the type of thing you aren’t including: "BERLIN—The German biotech firm that has partnered with Pfizer Inc. to develop a coronavirus vaccine is confident it will be ready to seek regulatory approval by the end of the year, according to its chief executive.
Several hundred million doses could be produced even before approval, and over 1 billion by the end of 2021, BioNTech BNTX -2.90% SE co-founder and CEO Dr. Ugur Sahin told The Wall Street Journal." But for me, really it is reading the results of the phase 2 trials from several of the vaccine candidates that I find exciting.
I find my greatest comfort reading about the various vaccines and I think back in February 2020 it seemed like nobody thought it could possibly happen in less than 18 months, and now that doesn’t seem so absolutely crazy, with firms planning for approval in possibly under 12 months.
I am very eager to learn more about what “ready to go” means, and the associated timelines. But if the manufacturing is done and the vaccine doses stockpiled, I guess I don’t know enough about the process to think they can’t start distributing once approval happens. I recall the mass vaccinations we did for the swine flu and that went very efficiently, at least in my neck of the woods. I did read somewhere about an expedited FDA approval process given the emergency situation, but sorry, no time to search for that. While perhaps not likely, it doesn’t seem impossible that vaccinations could begin before start of 2nd semester 2/1/21, but maybe it is.
It’s true that students likely won’t be at the top of the list, but they don’t need to be for this to start helping our lives and bringing more freedom of movement, including on campuses. If we start with any population at all (healthcare and other high-risk essential workers, certain age or health status or socio-economic groups, specific geographies such as distributing the vaccine in current hotspots, whatever) and get them vaccinated, the overall risk and spread to the community-at-large decreases. If the people who aren’t vaccinated yet (perhaps students) can at the same time get tested cheaply and frequently until they get vaccinated, that combination of actions should be pretty powerful and a real change from where we are in August. Being able to combine all of that with better treatments/outcomes and lessons learned from this fall I think is reason to hope for a better 2nd semester.
Anyway, I’m hopeful for a better 2nd semester, and I look forward to checking this thread in December to see what colleges are starting to reveal about their 2nd semester plans. I guess none of us really know, could go either way!
I find it perplexing that as more schools go 100% online which seems like a not so subtle suggestion that perhaps a large influx of students into the area is unwise and kids should stay at home, the first instinct for many is to try and move into the community in off campus housing.
xxx
While I agree that probably isn’t the wisest thing in terms of the pandemic, it’s understandable psychologically. The young adults can at least feel like they are getting out of their parents’ houses. It’s an attempt to experience something that’s at least a little closer to normal.
@vpa2019 because many students have been at home with their parents. Our s19 just got to his first year of college and was spreading his wings big time and now just spent six months at home. Part of why we all send kids away to college is for them to learn to live on their own and make their own decisions. We feel like sending him back (even though he’s not taking class and not living near campus but fifteen minutes away) is at least keeping his new friendships from regressing. They are six kids in one house and plan to stick to themselves for the most part. They certainly will stick only to themselves for the first two weeks and of course follow all of the masking and distancing rules in Maine. This way we are salvaging some of what this semester was supposed to be. Maybe it’s a little selfish? But we trust them and they won’t be the reason if Maine has an uptick in cases.
In a lot of cases at other schools, kids have year leases and planned to live there. Are they supposed to just eat the cost of that? While colleges might be calling off dorm life, people (whether they are students or not) live in these towns in apartments and houses. The tricky part is will these students behave. Not sure who is in charge of keeping them in line. In some cases, it sounds like the universities will suspend kids who have big parties.
@vpa2019 sorry, didn’t you know? It’s all about me, me, me!
The cost of the lease is a sunk cost. But it’s a sunk cost whether the student remains in their parents’ home, or lives in the leased lodging. They don’t save any money living in the lodging, unless the cost of living in the college area is less than the cost of living in their parents’ area.
@homerdog wrote:
That should be a “sticky” somewhere on the CC board.
I have a D the same year as your S and a rising college senior. They’ve both been home since March. I’ve been paying for 2, 12 month leases on apartments, one since January and one since last September. Am I happy to be paying? Not really.
I think we all expect our kids to behave and follow the rules. But the reality is they all won’t. Or they mostly will, but there will be a slip up that results in an infection or outbreak.
I completely under your feelings about friendships etc…but if the country as a whole is going to get this virus under control it has to be a collective effort. If everyone makes an exception for their child then we end up with lots of movement of kids all over the country and into communities which may be in a very good place with the virus or communities which are struggling, neither probably want new residents right now.
My son wants to go back and create a bubble with his friends similar to your son. I’ve voiced my concern and opposition to it but he has laid out very careful plans he has made with his roommates. If I absolutely forbid it, he would stay home.
My daughter’s school is still hybrid and it is in the U.K. so I have zero idea how it’s going to go. Cases are low but they only test symptomatic people…not optimal. They have a 14 day quarantine requirement but no testing in place for students…unless they have symptoms. I want her to stay home and do remote but that could have negative implications for her visa status so we are still discussing it.
Both leases were entered into before the pandemic began. I would not have leased any housing for either child in the last couple of months.
Dr. Fauci (also my beloved!) also said that it was POSSIBLE that we could get infection levels down to reasonably safe levels by November…with the huge caveat that doing so would require at least the majority of the country’s population to STRICTLY adhere to mask-wearing, social distancing, etc. (that’s roughly what he said; I read the article a few days ago). Can we expect that to happen, based on our experience thus far?
The other night I was walking my dog, and saw two young, unmasked women walking toward me. I’ve taken to allowing my (harmless) dog and her leash create distance between me and maskless people who would otherwise brush by within inches. They looked annoyed, and I quietly said, “social distancing.” One of them answered, “Oh, it’s fine–we live together!” To which I replied, “I don’t live with you.” That was met with howls of outrage.
And this is in northern NJ, where in theory we’re all super-responsible about this stuff and there is a mask mandate.
Sorry, but I don’t see Dr. Fauci’s best-case scenario working out.
I also want to say that I am REALLY sorry about all the students (especially freshmen itching to get away and begin their adult lives) and their parents who are finding out at the last minute about all these “pivots.” I know it’s heartbreaking for many, and I hope that my pessimism is misplaced. I don’t mean to make light of an awful situation.
I just don’t see the difference between S19 staying here in Illinois with this bubble of friends or going to Maine to form a different bubble. He’s not going back to some big party school with frats. The majority of kids he’s living with are taking class so they will be home taking class and studying almost all day, then they will all run (they are continuing to train) and then eat dinner and the kids taking class will likely need to study more. It will be a pretty quiet life. All of S19’s tentative plans are either remote or in person close by and, if he has any job in person, he will follow the rules.
We will test him before we leave and he will get a test after he gets there.
i’m in durham today, move-in for freshman starts today. i move in tomorrow to my dorm at duke. so far, so good.
Keep us up to date!!
@CTCape But now the RA Union at UMass is pissed because most of them were laid off without warning or compensation.
Same. I know a couple of posters here have said their adult children have not left the house since March, but that is not happening in most cases - and for my kid, its not healthy. The 8 week actual/true lockdown here in March and April/May were brutal. The summer (with friends bubble) turned out great, but no chance she (or us, as parents - dealing with it) would wrap up the fall in healthy mental state if we had to go back to lockdown for months again. So being in a friend bubble here or at college (where she’ll be tested on arrival and at least weekly) is safer in every way (physically and mentally) - for **my **kid. Some people are social and can’t sit home playing video games, zooming, and doing online classes without real outside interactions.