I think one of the sticking points is that not all students are getting tested. They might get tested initially at the beginning of the semester, and then randomly after that. But it doesn’t seem feasible that every single student would be tested before they came home. And even if they were, there is often a time lag between when the test was administered and when results come back. A lot of variables to think about.
I have a kid at U of SC, who is living off-campus. I think that there needs to be mandatory testing for all students, and as a condition of being enrolled at the university, they need to go to university run quarantine if they test positive. This needs to be for kids living in dorms and off-campus. The city needs to get involved and close the bars. The fraternities and sororities need security from the college to supervise their lockdowns, and if they still can’t comply need to lose their charter. My d knows so many people who get tested off-campus so that the university doesn’t know they are positive. Her friend’s little sister is a freshman, and there are groups living in the freshman dorms who have symptoms but have a pact not to get tested because if one person comes clean they are afraid they will all get in trouble or be sent to quarantine. I am just amazed that the administration is allowed to do such a poor job and still keep their jobs and keep the university open. And football starts on Sept. 26. I am beyond disgusted. The school is forever tarnished to me.
Thanks for the info on U of SC. I like your ideas. I have to say, my D20 is telling me that a lot of kids are going to the local HomeDepot near FSU to get tested not because they don’t want the university to know their results, but because it’s super fast. They have to wait a day or two to get into FSU’s testing facility to be tested, and calling them is useless because they don’t answer the phone. At the local Home Depot, she says they just walk in and get their test that day. This is concerning to me. She says a friend of hers in a different dorm thought he might have been exposed to the virus and was manifesting symptoms but couldn’t get a hold of anyone to tell him how to get into the quarantine dorm. She and her roommate talked to their RA to get him some help and it was finally resolved.
I also asked my D to make sure she gets a flu shot at the school health center but she told me she couldn’t get anyone to answer at the health center Sure enough, I called them myself, and I was on hold for 1/2 hour before someone finally picked up. It sounds to me like they are overwhelmed and unprepared for what is going on, despite having the whole summer to prepare.
I noticed that Leon County (where FSU and FAMU are located) as a whole is showing that 16-24 year olds are having the highest positive rates right now, so if any college students in the area are trying to avoid their school testing centers, no one is really fooled by that.
BREAKING: @UWMadison moves to all-online classes for the next two weeks, quarantines students in two dorms
What some of these schools are doing is disgusting. It is a complete lack of responsibility. I wonder how this will effect applications for them in the future.
And classes started just last Thursday at UW. County exec requested that all students be sent home.
I know several families that are taking into consideration what’s going on. Another factor in evaluating a college these days
Yes, they have quarantined all the kids in 2 of the freshman dorms for 2 weeks. Those 2 have the reputations for being the “party” dorms. A parent commented on a local news article I was reading that the kids can choose to quarantine at home instead. Classes are online and they are closing the library and most other campus facilities.
For all the maligning that Arizona State gets, they have quietly tested over 48,000 students and staff with 1330 positives since August 1. A total positivity rate in the 2.8% range. They are a large university that had a plan and so far has executed it well. They periodically update their numbers through this page - https://eoss.asu.edu/health/announcements/coronavirus/management
It can get a little confusing. The daily “known positives” is just that, a daily number. Previous positives that tested negative (twice?) are not counted. They are doing mostly online classes and they went to single rooms in the last week or so. They still have a lot of capacity based on the letter from President Crow yesterday.
Texas will be testing students before they can claim their football game ticket.
As an added safety measure, all Big Ticket holders wishing to claim a ticket for Saturday’s football game must take a complimentary rapid SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) antigen test this Friday, Sept. 11 between 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Only Big Ticket holders who receive a negative test result will have the opportunity to claim a game ticket.
https://texassports.com/sports/2020/6/9/big-ticket-students.aspx
One of the interesting questions this fall is what strategy actually works to allow a residential experience. It sounds like @taverngirl 's son’s school has created an effective bubble that is working.
And the experience of UWMadison, and other large schools, suggests that containing the virus is a huge challenge.
According to this article in The Atlantic:
This sort of use seemed to me like one of the best for rapid tests (not necessarily for football) as described by Michael Mina on TWIV. That is, used by institutions to screen for entrance. If only students were to be spectators, they could use the ‘paper strip’ cheap tests on campus for several days prior to a game, and perhaps electronically code three days in a row of a negative result on their ticket (or an app, etc. I like this advance, but if the tests are expensive, this won’t become common.
If tests are cheap, one could imagine that widespread, easy-access tests are administered and tracked (via an app?) at local chain drug stores. Anyone anxious to participate in group activities could habitually go and be ‘officially’ screened and use a negative screen history as a ticket into their group events. This could open up the sports and performing arts industries, at the very least.
The problem I see with the saliva strip home tests is they are not reportable (so we could lose our important data on positivity rates quickly). If this was everyone’s ticket to things they love to do, it would be very popular very quickly. For sure the technological infrastructure would need to be built (perhaps it is already being built?).
Of course daily attendance institutions (schools, large
Employers) would be an immediate beneficiary of this, too. That’s a little different as those attending are the same day after day. Events for the general public vary and there would need to be some sort of widespread community-based testing/recording locations.
Any vaccine will take many months to have an impact. This could have a much quicker impact . If we had quick, cheap and easy tests, that is.
The best plans need to be able to anticipate all possible scenarios and deal with all possible contingencies.
Purdue’s day of giving was yesterday. They raised over $42 million in 24 hours. (Not a typo). Beat their highest amount, hit last year, by $1 million.
If that’s any indication of alumni and parent loyalty, they are good to go with ongoing donations.
Meanwhile the positivity rate continues to hold steady between 2.5-3%. Quarantine bed usage now on the dashboard too. Most students have been back to campus for 4 weeks now. I’m encouraged that we haven’t seen any big spikes. Hoping to see the positivity rate trending downward at some point.
There was a parent townhall last night which I missed because I was still at work but I will watch it today. I heard it mostly answered covid related concerns. I’ll report back if there is anything noteworthy.
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I know of several students at universities all across the country doing this. Literally kids with fevers who have lost their sense of taste and smell who know they have it and are just not getting tested. They don’t want to go to quarantine so they are just not going in. It’s not just your school. It’s everywhere…and was totally predictable.
This is frustrating, and was foreseeable for those colleges not doing mandatory testing. Once schools know/suspect this is happening at their school, I hope they choose to change their plan. Which means all schools should have some type of mandatory testing plan, how often determined by their budget but should be at least weekly.
It’s really interesting to see what different strategies the schools are using. So far things at my D’s school are going well with only a few positives. But we just had Labor Day weekend and she knows kids who went home and I know some local parents came for quick visits for meals, etc. The school is very strict about the kids behavior in regards to masks, distancing, gathering sizes, etc. but not in other areas like leaving campus. Honestly, they are relying a lot on the kids to follow the rules for their plan to be effective. He school is big on their “Culture of Care” meaning the kids look out for each other, so this fits the culture well. For instance, when I hear people talking about kids leaving campus with symptoms to get tested at other schools because they don’t want to quarantine, I just don’t see a lot of kids doing that at her school. But I wonder if covid fatigue will start to kick in a some point and the kids will get lazy. Especially since they are doing well so they will start to feel safe and invincible. I hope when this is all over someone does a huge analysis of how this was handled to see what seemed to work and what didn’t.
MIT tests everyone on campus twice a week and allows no access to campus for off-campus undergrads.
Their positivity rate remains around 0.05%.