Well, it could make sense IF, as at SUNY Oneonta, they test all the on-campus students, keep those who are positive in quarantine and send home those who tested negative. At a large place like UW-Madison that may not be practical. And even at SUNY Oneonta, the quarantined students managed to have a pretty big party (and stupidly posted photos to social media).
Wesleyan has just transitioned to a combination in-person, hybrid and remote classes. Out of over 9,000 tests including the first full week of full enrollment, only 3 students and three employees have tested positive.
Life is far from “normal” even though the quarantine period is over. As far as I can tell, students are still not permitted to visit each other’s dorms although they are being encouraged to interact with each other outdoors so long as they practice State of Connecticut social distancing and mask wearing rules. The main dinning hall and library is open but at greatly reduced capacities (people are encouraged to dine al fresco as much as possible) and the gym is open by appointment only (varsity teams have their own set of training and work-out privileges.)
In terms of ECs, you can meet in-person so long as you can commandeer a space big enough to practice social distancing. But, because indoor space is at a premium, in most cases that means, meeting outdoors. A kind of multi-purpose tent has been set up on the main quad (Foss Hill) for such purposes.
Constant mask wearing is a way of life. Just about the only time you can take one off is when dining, taking a shower or alone with your “family”. A student’s family is defined as the smallest group of students who share a bedroom. So for dorm residents, unless you have a roommate that means, only when alone in your room.
The situation is a little better for upper-classmen at Wesleyan since a majority of them live either in apartment-style dorms or in college-owned woodframe houses. For them, family is defined as the other members of the apartment or house.
I also see a little bit of wriggle room in terms of “houseguests” at the latter dwellings. They can have guests (cough, have parties) so long as they don’t exceed 30% of the fire code occupancy. In most cases, that wouldn’t add up to more than ten people. However, if there is a weak link in the chain, it is this. Program houses and woodframes have had problems even during normal times with keeping parties under control.
That’s not possible.
The plans need to be fluid enough to react to all scenarios or contingencies but attempting to identify and plan for every possibility is a waste of time and resources.
For example, fires burning out of control don’t need to be a scenario, but the potential for everyone to have to leave campus should be planned. What do you do with your isolated/quarantined students if you have to leave campus…or the building they’re in becomes uninhabitable (boiler fails…doesn’t have to be apocalyptic)?
Schools need to plan a reaction to the chaotic nature of this virus. Nobody can anticipate what’s coming.
It would be helpful if schools could identify goalposts that allow for additional reopening ( or, in the opposite direction, closing). So MIT’s .05% positive rate is very nice, but how does that help the vast majority of its students not invited back to campus? Do they need to get to .02%? 0 percent? What exactly are they waiting for?
I’m listening to the Purdue townhall right now. The doctor in charge of their Covid response team shared a good amount. Good clarification about contact tracing, where students can isolate/quarantine, what constitutes a “close contact,” the nursing follow up, etc… Interesting explanation about 14 day quarantine/isolation if you had a high risk exposure vs 10 day quarantine if you are positive/symptomatic and already shedding the virus. They did clarify that students with their own vehicles, who are positive but asymptomatic, are allowed to drive themselves home to quarantine if they live close enough to not need to stop along the way (or be picked up by a parent willing to expose themselves). They will absolutely not allow anyone that is positive or needing to isolate to take public transportation to go home.
They dispelled some rumors, reviewed how they de-densified classes (with photos), cleaning protocols, academic supports/connections for students who need to quarantine/isolate and can’t be in class.
Conversation about housing and restrictions on visitors. It was interesting to hear that the doctor said that playing cards/games, even if a small group is wearing masks, is high risk because of everyone touching the cards. Talk about activities for students and how they’ll use the big spaces when the weather becomes inclement and things will need to be moved indoors. There are virtual games and activities for students in isolation/quarantine, crafts being delivered, leadership stuff, etc… There was a discussion about how they are reducing the dining lines (still problematic but getting better).
Information about mental health resources and supports provided.
Medical director said the million dollar question that is asked every day, is what would push the university back to fully online. The answer was - “it depends.” He said it would be based on isolations/quarantine space availability? Severity of illnesses? Hospitalizations? Numbers/trends/cases are analyzed every single day.
I’m not allowed to post the link but it can be found by googling Purdue parent and family town hall virtual event.
Circuitmom much the same at Trinity, (a close by NESCAC urban college) in terms of testing and strictures and mandates on campus, although Trinity numbers are only 1 pos. so far and zero faculty. Do you have a sense as to where or when the Wesleyan faculty/staff 3 positive exposures resulted from or happened? Was it during student onboarding or prior? Or from their lives off campus? It seems a tad high.
Well, the faculty/staff total includes every person doing work on campus. So, that includes construction workers and other contractors. I personally saw dozens of hard hats on campus over the summer as that is when repairs and renovations are traditionally completed. Judging from their dashboard, it looks as if one of the staff tested positive before students arrived.
@homerdog - Purdue released their Spring calendar this week and said they are anticipating a return to all F2F classes with distancing/masking precautions, along with no breaks again (including the cancellation of spring break). Zero idea what they are basing that on although,
I’m not sure what the current percentage of courses are f2f, hybrid, or fully online for the university as a whole but D has the majority of her current classes in person this semester.
D will be back at her co-op come January so I’m not following too closely what they are doing for Spring since she won’t be there but if I hear the details, I’ll share.
Okay and yes taking a look at the Wesleyan Dashboard it looks like 8/16 there was 1 pos. and 8/30 5 total. I presume that is onboarding week.
And sorry its CircuitRider not mom.
I’m really concerned about community spread. The responsible colleges had kids test before coming onto campus, and then quarantine when they came on campus until the kids received one or two negative test results. Well, what about when these kids are being sent home for Thanksgiving or otherwise? Colleges should have to test them before they send kids home, and only those kids with negative tests should be allowed to leave. Families could then do the best they can, given their housing situations, to quarantine their kids while they wait on another negative test result when the kids get home. This is super hard for families who live in apartments or small homes, especially for multi-generational families.
I do not believe they are “waiting” for anything. They are moving forward with their fall semester the way it was planned (seniors and hardship cases only on campus in the fall, everything that can be taught online is taught online) in hopes of being able to pivot to inviting years 1-3 on campus in the spring.
The way MIT “helps” students not invited to campus is by providing exceptional educational, research, and social engagement opportunities, even if they are temporarily remote.
Since their yield was record high and deferrals so few as to preclude admitting anyone off the waitlist, it appears most of their students are on board with this approach.
Yes, that’s correct. Other than a couple hundred students who had been on campus all summer, the bulk of the ~2000 students presently at Wesleyan started onboarding 8/24 and continued on a staggered basis through 8/30.
Does anyone really think that any colleges will allow MORE students back on campus in the spring?
IMO, they have the students locked in to the academic year (2020/2021) so they really have no incentive to allow more students on campus (other than for additional R&B but risky because outbreaks from more students could send everyone home and they could lose all R&B for the rest of the year).
For example, at Duke, there is this false hope that freshmen and sophomore’s who have to move out out of the dorms by Thanksgiving will be allowed back on campus in the spring. I just don’t see that happening once the juniors and seniors are allowed first priority housing on campus this spring.
It makes my head ache to think about it. I am really (metaphorically) sick over this.
I wish NY was running the country in terms of public health. They have it right keeping the positive kids quarantined as the college’s responsibility.
I expect MIT to continue to act in good faith, and to do what is best under the circumstances that exist when it is time to make final decisions.
Their plan calls for seniors on campus in the fall and years 1-3 (but no seniors) in the spring. So it is more students, but not by as much, and it is part of the plan to test the protocols with fewer people on campus in the fall to have a higher confidence in the spring.
If they are unable to invite as many students as they hoped, freshmen are expected to receive first priority.
I doubt Duke is going to allow a higher number of students back on campus in the spring @socaldad2002 We know quite a few upper classmen and they are not planning on moving onto campus for just the spring semester. The big question is how many juniors and seniors are in Durham renting with year long leases, and how many chose to stay home in the fall and are anxious to be back on campus in the spring. That will determine how many freshman and sophomores will have access to Duke housing, even if the total number available stays the same.
@TheVulcan , many schools offer exceptional opportunities, that is not uniquue to MIT. Moreover, since MIT, like almost all other schools, announced its fall 2020 plan well after the May 1 decision deadline, I don’t think you can claim “most” students are on board with the current plan-how would you even know, since they effectively had no choice? In any event, MIT kids, like others, will remain in the dark about whether the current rate is good enough to allow them on campus until sometime in December, likely.
There have been a couple of comments here about how things won’t return to normal even when we have a vaccine. I asked before, but I think my post got deleted by the monitors, so I’m trying to ask this in an acceptable way. What will colleges have to continue to do even after there is a vaccine? And what else needs to happen before we can go back to normal? Maybe it’s just the passage of time in order to let this burn itself out? Maybe it’s more medicines? I think this is a relevant question because it is important for parents and students to adjust their expectations to the reality of the situation, and right now my expectation was once we had a vaccine, there could be large lecture hall classes, football stadiums could again be full, students could again have parties, etc. I think there are a lot of folks sitting out the 20-21 academic year because they want to have a fuller experience than can be had under current restrictions. If these restrictions continue to be necessary, folks might want to start rethinking their plans or at least rethinking what are acceptable parameters for their kids eventually resuming their studies.
I know that most colleges are reporting number of cases broken up by students and faculty. Are many faculty catching the virus at schools where class is in person with masks? Do we have any info on that yet or is it too early? I’d love to be able to get more kids into class in the spring if we have evidence that class with masks and distancing is not infecting professors.