We’ll see how it works soon. Pitt is in the process of welcoming approximately 20k students back and they are only doing spot testing on arrival. There was no pre-arrival testing. There are doing a shelter in place process with 7 days prior to arrival at home and 7 days after arrival with pods. We should see fairly soon if this is successful or not.
Catawba County, 9-year-old passes virus to 65- and 67-year old grandparents. 17-year-old child passes virus to 19-year-old adult.
https://catawbacountync.gov/news/covid-19-in-catawba-county-a-case-study/
You’re welcome.
Also if you look at this school outbreak in Israel (153 students, 25 staff) you discover that parents of the students ended up infected. You’ve got to figure that those parents were infected by their children, rather than their children’s teachers. We know that infected children have high viral loads; why wouldn’t they infect adults?
https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.29.2001352#html_fulltext
add U Penn to the list of schools reversing course
Penn reasoning
“The sheer number of students who by Pennsylvania public health recommendation would now upon arrival — or based upon testing or high-risk exposure — need to go into a two-week quarantine is untenable,” the statement continued.
What’s the rule? Couldn’t they have sent them all tests to do and send them to Penn before they arrive? Or does PA need a quarantine even if you have a negative test?
not sure, I think its the 14 day quarantine on arrival from certain hot spots…but other schools are making this work (or trying to).
I have no connection to U Penn but just reading that statement made my blood boil. They and all the other colleges knew this. They strung these students along until the last minute and now their choices are limited.
Colleges didn’t know the 7 day rolling averages for mid-August in June or July. I think these latest announcements are due to the number of positives we’re seeing across the country, not some grand plan to bilk families.
Why can’t colleges bring students in, quarantine them for 14 days, and test them a couple of times over those 2 weeks?
Days before UConn students were scheduled to move into the dorms, UConn announced today that out of state students registered for all online classes would no longer be allowed to move into the dorms. And they were already required to move in 2 weeks early for a mandatory quarantine period.
The 2 week quarantine for PA is not mandatory - it is a strong suggestion. This really leaves it up to the schools to either adhere to it or not.
My dc state school is doing this and let me tell you the plan is not humane. Several dorms have NO air conditioning. Do you really expect a student to stay in a dorm with no contact with others in a room with no ac while doing your classes online. After two weeks the classes will go to the original plan and that includes some in person for my dc (which is why he is headed to dorm in the first place) They have said that the quarantine is not mandatory only requested so - good luck! I expect him to come home and go back after the 14 day period and I fully support whatever he wants to do. Sounds like jail to me. AND if after two weeks the classes suddenly go all on line yes, I will scream grand plan to bilk families.
At UConn, during the mandatory 2 week quarantine period, they were not going to be taking classes yet. They also were not confined to their rooms. Activities were being planned for them, they could pick up food from the dining hall, they could interact with their floor mates or suite mates, from what I understand. They were quarantined to ‘on campus’, not just to their room, I believe.
Already disappointed at D18’s school and some of the kids there. UCF is only testing the kids in dorms on arrival, about 10% of their population. Move in started Saturday. The kids are supposed to self isolate until results (2-4 days). The tweet went out yesterday that the grocery shuttle was operating- ummm aren’t they supposed to be self isolating?? Kids are walking around the halls without masks. Some kids have left on planes. The one Covid test is pretty much useless the second they walk out.
Honestly, I’m not surprised at how the kids are behaving and UCF shouldn’t be either. They were #2 a couple of weeks ago in Covid cases on campuses. They really want to be #1. They said they have around 80 beds reserved for isolation/quarantine. They had 30 cases in one week before people moved in. They say they think kids will go home if they are positive. That’s the wrong attitude- you opened, you should be prepared to deal with it.
Unless a school is testing on a consistent basis, or is small/isolated and can keep kids on campus, it will be impossible to keep the virus from spreading. The big campuses will really struggle with this- especially those in states that have a lot of Covid in the public already.
Haverford has said it’s a rule, but I believe the above that it’s not because otherwise they’re gaffing it off. They’re requiring students from those states to start the first two weeks of school online, but allowing them to stay in their dorms, walk around outside, and eat from the cafeteria. Makes very little sense to me personally.
This is all new. Schools don’t know what the heck to do. I don’t know either. They make the best decision with the facts at the moment. Any changes, and they may change their minds. This is so very difficult
Germany’s universities opened up partially on 6/15, I think the spring/summer semester ended sometime in July. Labs, practical classes, and classes under 30 students were allowed in person. Masks mandatory in buildings and without on university grounds wherever distancing of 5 ft could not be observed, but not in classrooms when sitting down and distanced. Mandatory contact tracing. They have moved the beginning of the fall/winter semester from 10/1 to 11/1, which is just can kicking of course, and hope they can open Up to 200 student classes in person.
I know that the nursing school where I occasionally hold talks on my youngest’s disability has scheduled me in person for 9/23 (they’re on a different schedule from Universities, year round rather than semesters.)
The cultural difference is not in people so much in this as in higher education systems. The vast majority of universities all over the world are not residential. They teach. That’s it. In Germany, as in most European countries, students may live with their parents, in flatshares, in individual flats, with significant others, and some live in dorms run by non-profits (AT COST! Now there’s a revolutionary idea!), some near university buildings, others all over town.
The universities has F-all to say about where they live and what they do, all they have a say in is what happens in academic and administrative buildings.
What happens outside is determined be public health authorities. Not their monkeys. Not their circus. They’re adults.
@austinmshauri While it is true the numbers continue to explode, they’ve known for several weeks this was going to be the situation. Although they may not have known the exact figures, they knew it was going to be roughly this high based on trends. Unless they expected the numbers to magically start decreasing rapidly in a very short period of time.
That being said, I don’t believe it’s a bait-and-switch plan either. I think they either panicked at the last-minute due to second-guessing and anxiety (probably the cause for most of the schools), were in denial (possible, but doubtful), or have a new reason for switching they don’t want to admit (probably the cause for a few schools, such as Smith).
Notre Dame has a tracking dashboard up and running. 4 positives out of 67 tests since 8/3. Will be interesting to see how they do.
Viruses are just pieces of RNA. Their job is to replicate. Because they do so in a very predictable way, we can model their spread fairly accurately.
There is indeed strong scientific evidence that children 10 years old and above spread the virus…
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/10/20-1315_article
Quote:
“We showed that household transmission of SARS-CoV-2 was high if the index patient was 10–19 years of age.”
There’s a really good article on this today by Dr. Leana Wen here: