School in the 2020-2021 Academic Year & Coronavirus (Part 1)

Thanks for sharing that link. I was pleasantly surprised to see my son’s college listed as “primarily in-person.” Though I know about his courses (1 fully in person, 2 hybrid and 2 remote synchronous, plus he works in another fully in person class), I really had no idea how his schedule compared to the majority of the student body. His campus is fully open in the sense that the entire student body was invited back, with no dedensified rooms, outside of not having any forced triples.

OTOH, my daughter’s campus is primarily online, with mostly freshmen invited back to campus housing. Majority of upperclassmen typically live off campus anyway. Most but not all of her friends chose to live off campus even tho majority of courses are remote synchronous.

Neither school is top 25, one in NY and the other in CA.

Has this been posted yet? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/15/nyregion/oneonta-college-coronavirus-president.html?smtyp=cur&smid=fb-nytimes SUNY oneonta president resigns after worst Covid outbreak of any public college/university in the state.

Of course, that can get pretty complicated.

  1. Predominantly commuter colleges: whether classes are in-person or online / distance is the main factor.
  2. Predominantly residential colleges where most students live in campus housing: need to consider both class format and whether students return to campus housing.
  3. Predominantly residential colleges where most students live in nearby off-campus housing: need to consider class format and campus housing, but also note that whether students return to the area is not entirely under the college's control.

Of course, many on the forums focus on elite private colleges, many of which are in group 2 with some in group 3, and state flagships, many of which are in group 3. The forums tend not to focus on group 1.

The effects on the college campus and local business next to commuter colleges would be most related to the class format. The effects on the local community at residential colleges would be most related to whether and how many non-local residential students return to live on or near campus.

First of many, I’m afraid.

“After 700 Students Test Positive, a College President Resigns”
Our state flagship already had over 2,000 positives, almost 10 percent of the on-campus student body. No resignations so far.

I bet it depends on the state. NY not down with big Covid numbers. Some other state governments don’t really seem to care.

Cases are climbing around the country. It’s one thing not to have a problem when the going is easy. What happens when the going gets tough? I don’t think any college has been tested yet. Now comes the real test. Mid-terms are upon us.

An interesting piece in WSJ on Broad’s testing ramp-up logistics:

"How a Pioneering Covid Testing Lab Helped Keep Northeast Colleges Open
Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard processes 45,000 Covid-19 tests a day for more than 100 colleges

A primary reason many colleges in Massachusetts, New York, Maine and Vermont have experienced few coronavirus outbreaks this fall has been frequent, widespread testing. At 108 colleges and universities, that testing is being done within a carefully orchestrated system run by the Broad Institute."

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-a-pioneering-covid-testing-lab-helped-keep-northeast-colleges-open-11602849600

Interesting article, Williams just announced that Spring semester will be continuous (no Spring break) and end late May with exams on campus (unlike Fall semester when the campus will close after Thanksgiving). All class years are welcome on campus as was the case in the fall. The extended time line for Spring suggests that the college has been able to fine tune learnings from this semester. Also, during quarantine, students can pick up their meals rather than have them delivered to their rooms as was done this semester. Good news that indicates other schools will follow.

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By quarantine, this refers to those who were exposed to someone who tested positive but they have not tested positive yet, so a precautionary quarantine? Otherwise, wouldn’t it be safer for all quarantine to remain so rather than to come pick up meals?

I learned yesterday that there was a difference between being in quarantine and isolation, so I’m thinking that is what is meant here.

Quarantine in this case refers to the quarantine all students must spend in their rooms when they arrive on campus until they receive two negative COVID tests. Typically takes 4-6 days of quarantine for all students in their rooms when they arrive before they are released. In the Fall, all students received their meals delivered directly to their rooms during this period. In the Spring, they will be able to leave their room and pick up their meals at a dining hall during the initial period.

^^that’s good! Really glad how well things have gone and fingers crossed all stays well! Hopefully, other institutions can learn from what they have done.

@TheVulcan unfortunately there is a paywall for WSJ Article but I can echo that the Broad Insitutute’s delivery on its contracts for rapid results for the many colleges that contracted its services are astounding. Also of note as I mentioned earlier is Broad’s contract with the State of MA in its “stop the spead” campaign to offer free testing to red zone communities (those at highest risk of covid) in MA with equally rapid results. Broad was also contracted during the surge in MA to reduce the spread in homeless population by deploying its testing model in collaboration with state DPH. Also of note in the Boston area is the success that universities such as Northeastern and Boston University have rolled out in their labs conducting similar robust testing.

Per the Chronicle of Higher Education 1 out of every 5 colleges responding has yet to decide their mode of instruction for the spring, 1/3rd will be hybrid.

6000 residents in elder care in massachusetts have died of COVID-19, one of the worst rates of the country.

https://www.wgbh.org/news/local-news/2020/10/13/state-blamed-for-lack-of-guidance-slow-covid-response-to-nursing-homes

I would say that the decision makers at the Broad institute have been grossly negligent for allowing that to happen when they obviously had the capability to stop that and these elderly people probably funded them with their taxes. Instead they provided their services to groups with the lowest medical need for them, healthy 18-22 year olds in college.

Hmm interesting perspective.

On the other hand, not sure where Broad has responsibility here. Governors (NY state sticks in my brain) IIRC made the decision to send covid patients BACK to nursing homes. Blame, if any, lies on the government decision makers. Also, did Broad even have a test available in March and April? When did most of the deaths occur? Washington State had an outbreak in the nursing home that forewarned public policy makers of what could happen. On a global scale, France, Spain, UK, Sweden, also failed in this regard to not paying attention to the elderly during the initial outbreak of the pandemic.

This thread is focusing on how educational institutions are dealing with the pandemic, not the government (which, by the way, seems to have unlimited power to make decisions and redirect private industry resources).

I, for one, applaud Broad for developing tests and being one of the elements that will allow society to move forward. Could they do more? Possibly, like everyone else.

I think we are also forgetting that several nursing homes hid and denied the covid infections and deaths before they could no longer do so (the Veterans home in Holyoke comes to mind, among others. What a terrible tragedy and scandal that was.) Anyway, lots of blame to go around there. But I’m not sure what Broad could have been doing about it at the time.

So how will colleges deal with the upcoming cold season? How to determine if a kid on campus has just a cold or needs to be tested for covid?

Will be a huge challenge for not just colleges but K-12 schools and workplaces in general. Will be millions of people developing cold like symptoms over the next several months that are really just colds or even the flu. Who will get tested? Don’t think there is sufficient testing capacity to test everyone. Will people be encouraged to stay home for 10-14 days? What will parents do with young kids at home? There is a multibillion dollar industry whose purpose is allowing people to continue to live their lives while sick.

Colleges that don’t already test everyone on campus regularly are going to have a huge problem on their hands very soon.