Graduate students are striking this week at University of Michigan for better Covid protections. Be interesting to see how this plays out.
https://www.michigandaily.com/section/academics/geo-members-strike-protest-fall-reopening
University of Miami, replying to Mom270
Surveillance testing is only useful if there’re few cases in a given population. Sample sizes and frequency will determine the accuracy and confidence level of the test. Hopefully the colleges can keep a lid on the number of cases so surveillance testing will remain relevant.
@PrdMomto1 – tks for the Wisconsin update. It’s on my S21’s list so I should be paying attention. It is known as a big party campus so I’m not surprised the Greek system has been tough to control. Ugh.
Big Ten not doing well so far. We will see how Michigan does. NU hasn’t moved in yet but is a different animal and will only half of their students on campus.
Yeah, I live in Wisconsin and while my D doesn’t go to school there we know a ton of kids who do. It is a pretty big party school, though we do know kids who go there who aren’t big partiers. It sounds like they are testing those that live in dorms regularly, but that is mainly freshman. Those that live off campus are not tested unless they request a test. The numbers of positives in the greek houses weren’t actually that high but I think they county realized that it would spread quickly simply because of the close living quarters. It sounds like the dorms are pretty crazy, especially those in the downtown area. The kids that live out near the lake say things are much calmer there and the residents are following the rules and rules are being enforced. I think in general those two different locations stereotypically draw a different type of student though.
I don’t think most large schools are doing well. It seems most, though not all, have pretty weak plans.
It also only works if it’s truly randomized and mandatory. Or else the sick kids will try to not get tested so as not to get moved to a quantine dorm (see Alabama).
@Mom270 I am very impressed with Elon’s communications and COVID response so far. Last I heard (in May) they were able to do private tours by appt. I’m assuming you know that Davidson (discussed upthread) is NC Too. Wake forest seems to have plans similar to Elon. These 3 could be toured on one trip.
I don’t think big state schools can afford to do the testing that some of the smaller private schools are doing. They just don’t have the money.
UIUC did 75K tests last week. Not sure the costs though.
Colgate is moving out of quarantine and into “Gate 1” effective 7 a.m. tomorrow. Students will now be able to move freely about campus, with social distancing and mask wearing protocols in place. Gatherings are limited to 10 persons, and you cannot visit other dorms. The dining halls and libraries will be open, although students are strongly encouraged to do “grab and go” rather than stay in the dining area. Groups of 4 or fewer are allowed to venture into the Village of Hamilton; my son and a couple of his new friends are planning on walking into the village tomorrow morning.
A big step forward. President Casey released a congratulatory video, but cautioned that the school will revert to “Gate 0” if students don’t mind their p’s and q’s and the virus were to spike.
Don’t put the Hex on Michigan.
LOL… . So far so good except their is a graduate strike tomorrow…
Sure there are get togethers, feats doing stuff. Just hope the kids can keep it together. Seems still like students are self policing for now.
I do not think that you can separate big vs small. Two schools very close to me, Gettysburg (very small and private) was one of the bigger fails in my opinion on testing and plan. Dickenson also small did not even have enough of a plan to attempt to bring anyone back. In our state the largest state school has a robust plan while our smallest state school with under 2000 students is sending their students to the county for testing and those tests are reported in the county zip not the school.
So how is the largest state school doing? How much testing are they doing each week? I don’t know of any big public university that really passes the test. Granted, some have just started school, so we will have to give them time. Almost all large unis are either (a) testing a lot and finding cases and now going remote or (b) not testing enough and not finding as many cases so are still sending kids to class or (c) seeing a ton of cases on and off campus but don’t seem to care and are keeping their status quo of hybrid, in-person or remote options for class. I don’t know any large university that has a handle on the situation.
We do know some smaller schools that are looking good but it’s early for them. And there are some mid-sized privates that also seem like they are testing enough, cracking down on offenders, and might be able to squeak out a semester with some in-person classes.
If anyone out there knows of a big state university that is keeping cases low, please post. Maybe I’m missing something.
Guess it depends on your definition of “low”. There are 38K students at Purdue PLUS the thousands of staff members. They have had less than 300 cases total. IMO, that’s keeping cases low. The positivity rate has been trending at 2 1/2% for the last two weeks now.
but, see, that’s what I mean. First, who decides low? And, two, the positivity rate at schools can’t be compared because testing protocols are different. How would Purdue’s look if they were testing like UIUC? How would UIUC’s look if they tested like Purdue?
But was Gettysburg really a big fail or did they just get very conservative and send most kids home when things spiked a bit? Maybe it was a $ issue. I believe initially they had less than 10 cases, but when it went to about 50, driven mostly by Greek houses they folded. Cases not all that different from Colgate who are buckling down and staying the course.
Last 14 days Michigan is at…wait for it…2.5% also…
You can only take what you have. Every schools seems to be doing different amounts of percentages of students and staff. There will not be a standard like large schools do X and small schools do Y.
I just hope all schools ramp up testing weekly amounts but there is a study out now about the virus in the gut longer (waste testing) even with asymptomatic students even after a neg respiratory test (nasal swab)…you have to understand that we are almost learning new things weekly now about this virus.
Once again, it comes down to wearing a mask, social distancing and washing your hands and not touching your face. This seems like the constant.
West Virginia University suspends in-person classes.
West Virginia University announced Monday that it would suspend in-person classes at its main campus because of concerns over a recent spike in coronavirus infections.
The university said in-person undergraduate classes would be canceled Tuesday at its main campus in Morgantown and then shift to online-only instruction through Sept. 25.