Higher education is big business and is suffering. Makes me a little crazy when posters say things like “ most schools have commuters”. There are a
Because colleges don’t want outbreaks and they also don’t want to have distancing and remote classes for any longer than they need to. So they can require everyone gets a vaccine.
Colleges can require a vaccination but until it is widely available to that demographic it will be hard to have it be a requirement. It will be interesting to see where the vaccine priorities fall. Hopefully the most vulnerable are first.
Colorado has released it’s preliminary plan for vaccine distribution. You can find a link to it in this article (scroll down to page 5 of the pdf to see the chart):
Healthy college students fall in the last group to be vaccinated. My understanding is that other states should be releasing similar documents over the course of this month.
Members of some prioritized groups may not necessarily be vulnerable themselves, but are in frequent contact with vulnerable people, so giving them vaccine priority would be to reduce the chance of them being vectors to the vulnerable. Examples include those working in health care, nursing homes, ambulances, police departments, fire departments, social work, jails, prisons, where social distancing on the job may be more difficult to maintain while doing the job, and the required close contact may be to previously unknown people with no chance of being able to do even the limited COVID-19 screening that exists before close contact.
I looked at the chart on page 5. Interesting that Colorado doesn’t seem to be prioritizing people of color, as they are disproportionately affected. I didn’t read the entire document.
Flu shots are encouraged for all age groups where I live, and my child’s college is requiring proof of flu immunization by 10/30 in order to register for spring semester, even though they aren’t on campus (only seniors on campus this fall.) There are some exceptions for international students whose home country has a different flu season.
I fully expect the school to require vaccination against covid once it is available.
@curiousme2 I recently read the rationale behind one decision not to prioritize People Of Color, which was that they didn’t think that the virus cares about the color of anyone’s skin, but that there are certain factors that make it more likely for someone to get sick with Covid, and POC have more of those factors than others. Those factors include working essential jobs, living in multigenerational households, lack of access to health resources, suffering from underlying heath conditions, etc. The thought was that if people who had these factors were given priority, that would address the issue. Whether anyone agrees or disagrees with this rationale is another story, and I’ll stay away from politics.
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I was curious myself about the science when I keep hearing politicians (but seemingly not scientists/researchers) point out that it is POC disproportionately impacted without providing any further context. Statistics 101! Other factors are not being addressed – for example: socio-economic (types of jobs), living conditions (density of housing), healthcare, etc. I am waiting for the science to say there is a genetic factor – which w ill be proven on a worldwide basis since this pandemic is worldwide. In UK, one study found that POC and lower income had more cases, and the data showed it was tied to the types of jobs and density of living conditions, not based on genes.
If there is a scientific basis, absolutely, that should play a role in the prioritization of the vaccine - -similar to the data on the elderly, vulnerable, high risk occupations, etc. But if we are talking about equity issues, such as the rich or the NBA/MLB getting tests daily for their players when health care workers couldn’t access the test, that is another issue.
Thank you for pointing this out.
OTOH, it seems after the initial rollout to essential workers and those in high risk/touch professions, the healthy and able bodied will be highly encouraged, even mandated where possible (colleges) so that a herd immunity will develop from the vaccine. As with flu shot, the vulnerable often cannot withstand the shot, and so depend on the rest of the population to get the shot to prevent the spread (being a vector).
Agree that it will be very interesting (& important!) to see if there is a genetic factor to this disproportionate impact or if it is all based on societal factors.
Even I, a non-scientist, can think of several medical issues that are significantly more prevalent in certain ethnicities, such as sickle cell disease, tay-sachs, and hemochromatosis.
A couple of weeks ago, they had no problem forbidding 18-24 year-olds from appearing in any group larger than one, but now they present no problem to the public’s health. `()/’
Purdue added more metrics to their Covid dashboard - severity of infection and total active cases.
The current population, including staff is 49,700. They’ve had 3 hospitalizations since 8/1 (I know at least one was a student who was released within 24 hours), and no deaths. 96% of cases were deemed to be asymptomatic to mild. 3% were moderate, the remainder significant/severe.
72 of the 940 quarantine beds are occupied.
There has been a rise in cases since IN moved to phase 5. Purdue had hoped to get the county to keep their restrictions in place but they failed in getting that to happen.
State and county governments may see things differently.
Also, mitigation possibilities may be more available for 18-22 year old people generally than for people whose work requires close contact with others.
@mom1720 Most of the American population falls in that last group.
Nope, the 18-22 year olds are participating in an optional activity (going to college). They can still do that without a vaccine.
And it wasn’t Colorado, it was Boulder. Boulder has its own rules.
Any college kid can get a job that moves him/her up the vaccine priority list. Become an essential worker or a front line worker.
We’ll see what happens after Thanksgiving.
Any updates on the UNC system’s plans for spring? I think they were one of the few large southern state systems that closed campus for students entirely (after the outbreaks). Their counterparts in Alabama, Florida, Ohio, etc… did not and are living with the outbreaks and infections while keeping students on campus. I wonder if they regret throwing in the towel and what their plans are for spring.
Wesleyan has shifted policy in order to allow students to visit each other’s dorms:
UNC chapel hill announced yesterday spring term delayed until Jan.19. No traditional spring break, but days scheduled off throughout intended as true breaks (no tests the next day etc). Ends May 5
Did they talk about in-person learning and students being allowed to live on campus? My understanding is they currently have non of that.
@suzyQ7 the UNC system is not entirely shut down. Some campuses sent students home after a short time (Chapel Hill and N.C. State, except extenuating circumstances). UNC at Charlotte took a different approach. Classes were online from 9/7 to 10/1. Some students moved in prior to classes starting (athletes, band, RAs, those with extenuating circumstances) but most moved in 9/26 to 9/29. My DD20 is there, in her single bedroom within a normally 4x2 suite, with a mix of online and hybrid classes. They are doing wastewater testing and had only 11 active on campus cases as of last Friday. Seems to be going as planned.