School in the 2020-2021 Academic Year & Coronavirus (Part 1)

[mathKids]

From CNN:

The White House has formally declared that teachers are essential workers as part of its effort to encourage schools around the country to reopen for in-person learning.

…

The guidance for essential workers states that they can continue to work even after exposure to a confirmed case of Covid-19, provided they remain asymptomatic.

[taverngirl]

@MBNC1755 a thousand times, yes! In person classes are probably the safest place for kids on campus at any school right now. Going all online and leaving them in dorms is a horrible idea, IMO.

[alh]

.Earlier today I started googling around, looking for information from panhellenic or individual sororities on covid guidelines. Most of what I saw was from last spring.

Sorority houses are definitely cruise ships.

Adding: three to a bedroom at my house in the 1970s… 55 women living in the house. Three bathrooms with rows of sinks, showers, toilets. Communal meals, including daily subsets of 100+ sisters not living in the house.

[cptofthehouse]

Georgia State quarterback announces he has a heart condition from COVID 19 and won’t play this year. This is what worries me.

[Cardinal_Fang]

Sorry, I missed the part about classes not having started yet.

[twoinanddone]

I don’t think any schools are restricting dorm kids to only eating on campus or not eating anywhere but their dorm rooms (general population, not quarantined or isolated). They are going out to dinner, going to the dining halls for pick up, doing drive thru from McDonalds.

Does any school have the rule that students can’t go out to eat in accordance with the state or city rules, like patio dining, pick up, Grub Hub?

[wisteria100]

@twoinanddone

I don’t think any schools are restricting dorm kids to only eating on campus or not eating anywhere but their dorm rooms (general population, not quarantined or isolated). They are going out to dinner, going to the dining halls for pick up, doing drive thru from McDonalds.

Does any school have the rule that students can’t go out to eat in accordance with the state or city rules, like patio dining, pick up, Grub Hub?

At Amherst students are not allowed to leave campus and outsiders are not allowed in so no food deliveries.
At Williams, students are not allowed off campus for the first month.

[xyz123a]

Looks like going remote did not prevent Holy Cross from experiencing cases. One confirmed case (so far) from an off campus party.

https://whdh.com/news/terribly-disappointed-at-least-1-holy-cross-student-who-attended-large-party-tests-positive-for-covid-19/

[AlwaysMoving]

@Cardinal_Fang

I’m a big fan of social scientist Susan Dynarski, formerly of the University of Michigan but I think she was just poached to Harvard. She was the one who did the study where they mailed glossy mailers to high-scoring low-income high school seniors, and others to their parents, telling them they could go FREE! to the University of Michigan. It worked extremely well to get well-qualified students who would have otherwise ended up at lower-ranked four year or two year schools, or not go to college at all, to end up at Michigan. Huge success.

She’s been vocal in opposing college re-openings, and her latest Twitter thread is hilarious.

We cannot quote Twitter, but check it out. She links to various episodes where, shocking surprise, frats had parties, and concludes that even if 90% of students follow the rules, that won’t prevent outbreaks. She points out that social scientists already know that telling people to “try harder” doesn’t work with safe sex, drug addiction, weight loss, smoking cessation or drunk driving.

Great thread! It’s amazing how many of the COVID parties are not at Southern schools…

[jagrren]

@noready

It’s happening. D has a friend who had to drive home late last night after her roommate tested positive and they were booted from their sorority house. Her rapid test was negative, she can test again next week, not sure how many neg tests she needs to go back. They hadn’t been going to parties, but the roommate had dinner last week with a girl who was and then tested positive, everyone at the dinner has also now tested positive. Some sorority houses have quarantine rooms, some just show them the door. I’m not sure that a house could have enough q rooms given the proximity they live in.

Story is girl A picked it up at a frat house, but who really knows. The reality is that kids being kids will spread it, and she appears to be really good at spreading it. Classes haven’t started yet, so study group and in class spread hasn’t begun.

I don’t understand how the colleges are allowed to send kids home to potentially spread it in their hometown. Weren’t they supposed to have a quarantine and isolation rooms?

[jagrren]

You guys, check out @dynarski on twitter. She is a U of Michigan professor and is keeping track of outbreaks and providing commentary.

[noready]

This isn’t good, but at least administration is doing something about it…

https://www.kbtx.com/2020/08/20/tamu-requiring-all-members-of-two-sororities-to-quarantine-after-covid-19-exposure/

[circuitrider]

@wisteria100

@twoinanddone

I don’t think any schools are restricting dorm kids to only eating on campus or not eating anywhere but their dorm rooms (general population, not quarantined or isolated). They are going out to dinner, going to the dining halls for pick up, doing drive thru from McDonalds.

Does any school have the rule that students can’t go out to eat in accordance with the state or city rules, like patio dining, pick up, Grub Hub?

At Amherst students are not allowed to leave campus and outsiders are not allowed in so no food deliveries.
At Williams, students are not allowed off campus for the first month.

Wesleyan students can dine downtown once their initial quarantine period is over. But, they may not feel the need from what I can see:

https://www.wesleyan.edu/dining/

[milgymfam]

@twoinanddone

I don’t think any schools are restricting dorm kids to only eating on campus or not eating anywhere but their dorm rooms (general population, not quarantined or isolated). They are going out to dinner, going to the dining halls for pick up, doing drive thru from McDonalds.

Does any school have the rule that students can’t go out to eat in accordance with the state or city rules, like patio dining, pick up, Grub Hub?

Haverford is not allowing kids to work/eat off campus. They’re only supposed to leave campus for emergencies. They’re not allowed to get together to eat anywhere except outside and still distanced. Even the apartments are apparently a grey area, as they are not considered pods and you can only be in common areas masked and socially distanced. They may still have groceries delivered though.

[suzyQ7]

Good work here in Massachusetts… solutions for our elementary schools that need to get back in person.

"Baker Announces Rapid Response COVID Testing Program for School Outbreaks

As students prepare to go back to school in many districts across Massachusetts, the state is planning to roll out a rapid response testing program that can be made available to any school in the state."…

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/gov-baker-to-provide-update-on-coronavirus-in-mass-10/2180691/

[Cardinal_Fang]

Huh. UNC somehow discovered they could update their covid dashboard every day instead of every week. 91 new cases today, all students.

[shuttlebus]

@wisteria100

At Amherst students are not allowed to leave campus and outsiders are not allowed in so no food deliveries.
At Williams, students are not allowed off campus for the first month.

And after the first month, students at Williams can’t leave the county until they head home for Thanksgiving.

Williams has its dashboard up and running: 511 tests administered so far with 0 cases.

[AsMother]

@Cardinal_Fang

Huh. UNC somehow discovered they could update their covid dashboard every day instead of every week. 91 new cases today, all students.

Just stating the obvious here (and really NOT trying to just be negative for the sake of being negative)–that is just mind-blowing. In our mile-square city across the Hudson from NYC (population 53,445) we have had 693 confirmed cases SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE PANDEMIC. Sheesh.

[chardonMN]

Tulane has Grubhub available to deliver from the dining hall to marked locations around campus. the dining commons has a limit on how many people can be inside so I think the grubhub option is to alleviate the lines at the dining locations.

[theloniusmonk]

“Please don’t equate people questioning your reasons with rudeness.”

It was not the criticism but the point by point refutation that was not, imo, necessary, it was like we were in debate society. CC can be very judgemental especially to teenagers, which is why they don’t really stay here after they get their question answered. We should try to be more tolerant.