Thanks for that link. I had been wondering about Broad’s capacity. It looks like they completed 30K tests yesterday and have a capacity of 35K. I have not been tracking the arrival dates of the schools using Broad, but is there a chance they run up against that upper limit if too many students arrive on the same day?
@amsunshine I haven’t read through all of the posts to see if this was answered. Not allowing the colleges to reopen (and therefore keeping the dorms closed) was a call made by LA County, not the school. UCLA, Harvey Mudd, Pepperdine, LMU and other colleges in LA County were also not allowed to reopen.
I believe USC made the switch to go completely remote before LA county’s decision. UCLA made that same decision a long time ago. Harvey Mudd, on the other hand, was surprised by the county’s decision and had to make the switch at the last minute. It is a problem if many students decide, on their own, that they want to stay together in off-campus apartments, especially in densely populated areas near large universities.
My D’s friend at Alabama and her friends who were sick decided to do the right thing and get tested yesterday. They will isolate in their dorm while waiting for results (2-3 days).
How will they get food if their isolation isn’t UA sponsored and they are just doing it themselves? Are all of their classes remote or they will just not go?
I wonder how the new CDC guidance will impact the testing plans at schools.
Well considering the current CDC guidelines recommend against mass testing of asymptomatic people, I’m guessing it won’t affect their plans much if at all.
Probably not at all. I was shocked that in my state one large state school is testing all residents regularly while another much smaller state school is not testing at all. IF you want a test you are sent to the county health center for a test and the number will be counted for the county. The school is not tracking or counting cases. Two state schools in same state with different procedures. I’m guessing their testing plans are not changing.
USC (20,000 undergrads) was planning on hybrid and moving kids into the dorms with reduced density. Instruction was scheduled to begin on August 17 and by August 5, neither the state nor the county had approved plans for schools to reopen. USC waited as long as they could and 12 days before classes were scheduled to begin, they informed students that the state and county still hadn’t approved the reopening of higher ed so they would have to stay closed until approved to reopen. https://we-are.usc.edu/2020/08/05/8-5-fall-semester-update-from-provost-zukoski-and-david-wright/
The state eventually released their guidelines for higher ed on August 7 and threw the decision on approving reopening plans back to the counties. https://files.covid19.ca.gov/pdf/guidance-higher-education–en.pdf
LA County released their statement on August 10 http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/docs/protocols/Reopening_HigherEducation.pdf
Harvey Mudd (900 undergrads) began classes on August 24 - a week after USC - and thought that they might be able to petition or waiver to reopen because they felt that their instructional activities cannot be accomplished through virtual learning. It was a long shot but they were denied and announced on August 14 that they were not given county approval to reopen. https://www.hmc.edu/coronavirus-information/2020/08/14/hmc-transitions-to-remote-learning-for-fall-2020/
UCLA (30,000 undergrads) is on the quarter system with the first day of classes still over a month away. They were planning on 10-20% in-person/hybrid with reduced housing density then went do 8% in-person with reduced housing density and on August 21 went 100% remote with no housing. https://covid-19.ucla.edu/fall-update-shift-to-primarily-remote-instruction-reduced-housing/
Edit to add that Stanford which is in Santa Clara County (5+ hours north of LA) made the announcement on August 13 that they would not bring students back to campus https://healthalerts.stanford.edu/covid-19/2020/08/13/autumn-update/
An hour north of Stanford is Berkeley (Alameda County) which has 100% remote instruction but dorms are open with decreased density. https://housing.berkeley.edu/fall2020covid
I think the food part can be easy even if they don’t get meal delivery—lots of kids are packing more food than usual due to changes in dining services. Dorm rooms are bulging with super-healthy staples such as ramen noodles, microwaveable Mac and cheese, and beefaroni ;-). And I feel like I’ve heard that on almost all campuses for all classes including those offered face to face, that there typically is the option to do the class remotely (not only for kids who are not living on campus, but for kids who might get sick or deal with a 14 day quarantine mid-semester). I’m sure those kids can manage for a couple of days while awaiting their results. Glad to hear they are doing the right thing.
I am wondering too about schools that are not testing nor posting any data. Will they end up being able to actually stay open because there is no proof of an outbreak? If the majority of students who are infected are asymptomatic maybe they will just never know they had the virus and therefore are not counted toward any data. The few who get significant symptoms will be quarantined but again if there’s no contact tracing that won’t impact the school as far as closing. Do local health departments force schools to disclose any information?
Getting food delivered is pretty easy these days. They could order basic groceries and/or the occassional uber eats and have a friend leave the delivery outside their door.
I should add that all of these schools are offering housing for those with hardships or extenuating circumstances.
I have a friend who works at the Broad doing Covid testing. They had a meeting several weeks back where they were basically told to work longer hours and work faster. I’m not sure what hiring plans they had to try and keep up with demand. I’m surprised at how well they have done so far.
My daughter had to be tested before arriving on campus. The school mailed out tests to all students. There were some delays in mailing tests and those students had to find their own testing.
@tkoparent From what I can glean from twitter and alumni news sources, Wooster is doing pretty much the same as Denison.
So I talked to my kid last night. He said kids weren’t adhering to quarantine as much as the school led them to believe they were required. More questions later I realize kids are getting together in very small groups, outside and masked up. I have zero issues w/ this and told my son I didn’t think the school would either. Hopefully he takes my advice & gets outside w/ a few friends. I know he was planning on doing alot of editing today… but he needs to socialize at least a little!
Testing in LA k-12 public schools:
@lkg4answers Thanks for all the info. I guess time will tell how this is all going to work out and whether it was a good decision to either open dorms or keep them closed for the most part. It will probably vary from school to school but it seems to me that leaving kids to their own devices off campus is not the best plan. At least with dorms, a school can require testing and try to enforce good practices.
With all of the testing and data I have been reading I was shocked and wondering the same. I’m guessing you have the reason, they will proceed like it does not exist. It is a very small state school but I am shocked that the state allowed them to open with that plan. If I were a county resident I would be angry but I think they also employ many county residents. I am sure there are many many more small schools like this and probably some big ones too.
@amsunshine is SDSU allowing students to move into the dorms?