If the ordinance wanted to allow exceptions, it should specify. Leaving the health police to be deciding what to enforce is a terrible idea. That’s how problems start in this country, and with people flaunting H.O’s. In your example, athe 6 people on the beach with a beer in hand may actually be ok since they come from the same household, where the couple walking down the street are from two separate pods and have now spread the virus further. So no, if the HO says says X is not ok, then X should not be ok as ordered. After all the HO should be based on science.
"Nearly 1,000 students living in two dormitories at Colorado State University have been quarantined after wastewater monitoring revealed a “significantly high level” of COVID-19 within those campus residences.
Five hundred students living in Braiden Hall and 400 in Summit Hall are under a mandatory quarantine of unspecified length, meaning students are not allowed to leave their residence halls for any reason, CSU officials announced Thursday night.
…
“The quarantine will be in place (at CSU) until all positive cases and close contacts in the residence halls have been identified and the wastewater results return to normal,” the university’s message to students said"
The back end is indefinite and they aren’t wanting students to leave and go home and spread the virus. And they are in small dorm rooms. I feel for those students. And I also understand the context. I just don’t see any easy answers.
I think that Harvard nailed it, 100% online was the best decision for public health. Those students who didn’t want to stay with their parents could use the dorm money they saved to rent somewhere exotic away from the college party environment and are probably living life half vacation half work from home.
I was interested in that same question since I’m not a Boulder resident and a lot of CCers seem to have strong opinions about what’s going on there. So, I did a google search of news articles from around the area.
Apparently, things were manageable until about July when the county started experiencing consecutive weekly spikes in the triple digits. There was also a highly publicized photograph of a sizable crowd of college-aged kids gathered on a riverbank in May. That image and the accompanying carefree comments sent shivers through the community. What I found remarkable was at the same time the police department was saying that they didn’t believe in issuing summonses, but rather in taking an “educational approach” to public mask wearing and social distancing (I think there was one article involving a shop owner who was fined for not having all three of his employees in compliance.) That was in May:
Apparently, things got worse once CU officially re-opened, although there’s plenty of evidence that a significant college-aged population never leaves Boulder.
It is a sad thing that public health measures are viewed as punishment for bad behavior and not as a means to protect the common welfare. It’s also very odd to me that this thread suddenly became flooded with folks upset by the direction taken by one college town in the Rockies. Who are all you people? Citizens of Boulder? Frat members at CU? Whatever was going on at CU was not working and is a threat to the health and well-being of the community so different measures are being taken. That’s what ought to be, and mostly is, happening everywhere. When the counts start going down, social restrictions can be relaxed. That’s how public health measures work in a pandemic of a deadly and dangerous disease. 200,000 and counting.
It’s not how it worked in NYS. Industries were restricted, but it applied to all age groups. People weren’t put under house arrest and their movements weren’t restricted based on their age. Whatever phase we were in applied to everyone. That’s how you do a pandemic. If CU can’t control their students maybe they should close down and send everyone home.
Yes, I have no dog in this fight, other than it better not become a precedent. Even in the liberal haven that I am in, I do not think people would stand for such an overly broad measure, targeting people specifically by age, with no consideration or exception for pods, etc. Seems causation and correlation all mixed up.
Anyway, sounds like folks in Boulder are all fine with it and that is what matters there. Hopefully, the counts will go down!
Heard on Fox News:
“[Wesleyan] is now considering cancelling spring break in favor for a mix of days off throughout the spring semester to discourage people from traveling to traditional spring break locations.”
All 3 of my kids schools have done this and I expect most schools if they have not already done so will do it. Not a bad idea based on the footage of spring break last year in Florida.
Davidson recently announced changes shortening their spring semester. The start has been pushed back 2 weeks to Jan 25th, spring break has been eliminated and classes end a few days earlier on April 29th. There will be 2 mid-semester mid week breaks March 3-4 and April 7-8 and Davidson is telling kids to stay on campus during those breaks. Most non-seniors are expected to depart campus the weekend of May 1-2 and take finals remotely. Davidson’s usual spring calendar has 8 days off (MLK Day, Spring Break, Easter Break) while the revised one only has 4. This means that most Davidson students will be away from campus for 2 solid months between Thanksgiving and the start of spring semester!
I wonder if one of the longterm effects of COVID is a new school schedule where school starts earlier, ends at Thanksgiving, comes back right after the new year, skips spring break, and ends early.
I’m convinced there will be no more colleges closing up early for the semester; they will all make it to Thanksgiving break. Then more colleges will reopen in the spring. So the year looks different, but colleges are getting on with things and kids are adapting. With that said, am I the only one tired of going on and on about the infection rates on various campuses and measures to lower it? Seems pointless.
3/4 of the students live in Boulder, off campus, mostly year round because that’s how leases are. Most are Boulder residents and live there, work there, vote there, serve jury duty there.