Tufts students are now getting tested (RT-PCR) every other day.
Denison offered students three testing options for the end of the semester - one timed so that a student who tested positive could complete quarantine before the end of the semester, one providing for testing closer to the end of the semester, and one where a Vault test will be mailed to the student’s home and then processed in a day or two. S19 did not sign up for any of these options as he received a negative result about a week ago after being tested as part of a signal testing group. He will be flying home and the country where we live will also require a negative test at the airport before he will be released. A couple of months ago, the airport testing was a big deal since results took 24 hours or more - they had a little village of cardboard cubicles set up in the arrivals area - but now it only takes an hour or so. Once cleared, he can travel home on non-public transit (i.e., the family car) and will have to quarantine for two weeks - the health authorities will call during that period to check on how he’s doing. The school is asking that students quarantine for two weeks before they return to campus at the end of January and will test everyone upon arrival. So, out of S19’s two-month break, he’ll be in quarantine for about half that time. The first couple of weeks will be easy, as he has papers and finals to complete, but the last two may be more painful. At the moment, Denison has 5 positive cases, all faculty/staff. They’ve generally managed to keep things well under control throughout the semester while providing a pretty decent student experience, but the cases are picking up in Ohio now, so the timing for the kids to leave campus and come home seems good. I hope that the situation will be better by late January. S19 is on the track team and, although the normal indoor season is on hold, there are plans for at least three dual-school meets, and the team is excited about that.
Amherst just made an adjustment to move-out for students who will supposedly be able to return for Spring 2021; they still have to put their stuff in boxes (except CA’s), but they do NOT have to move their stuff out; Amherst College will just move it to their new rooms for them.
@RosePetal35 and @EmptyNestSoon2 Did you know that Moderna President Stephen Hoge is an Amherst College alum? Just like his father before him in 1968. Good luck in the final week on campus.
https://www.modernatx.com/about-us/executive-committee-leadership#Hoge
I am a teacher and partly agree. My school has gone virtual 4 times already this year because of positive test results. However, I think that high school and college students are the superspreaders, so even though they are (mostly) less affected, vaccinating them would help contain the pandemic.
Love that!! Yes, in the end, amazing people from many, many awesome institutions have contributed to bringing to market the vaccines that will hopefully enable college to be normal again (among other things). Very happy to see an Amherst connection, among so many others. I enjoyed the article The Vulcan posted, but in the end, it made me think that Katalin Karikó is the real hero that started all of this, and I hope all little girls and boys grow up knowing her name! And that all college-aged kids also know her name and thank her for the amazing technology she kick-started to result in save-the-day-vaccines!! She is currently an SVP at BioNTech, but both BioNTech/Pfizer’s vaccine and Moderna’s vaccine are based on her discoveries…I plan to have both of my college-aged kids write her thank you notes when they return to in-person classes and quasi-normal college life, thanks to her unbelievable work!
Katalin Karikó —. Remember her name…up there with Marie Curie, perhaps!
Is there evidence of super spreading incidents in high schools?
@jagrren wrote that the students are the superspreaders, but that does not necessarily mean that they will do the superspreading in school, as opposed to parties and such when out of school.
There is another thread about parents discussing private prep schools requiring a contract signed that the students and families refrain from high risk activities outside of school.
@2ndthreekids - Go Irish! I am at the other end of the spectrum on this. To my knowledge, there are still 0 hospitalizations at ND, and I am not aware of any faculty getting the virus from students. Maybe the herd immunity approach is working?
That said, my junior lives in fear of testing positive or being identified as a “contact” in these final days of the semester. Please take a minute to evaluate the impact of your attitude of your student. My ND student is normally high strung. Covid has amplified that stress.
I disagree that ND has taken a “lesser” approach. My "random"kid has been teated 6 times this semester. 97+% of all tests are negative. Give your students some grace as they try to finish up.
Let’s not get in trouble by the mods…the vaccine and home testing kit info should be on the inside medicine thread.
For that reason, I deleted several posts. Some had something to do with education, but the poster responded to a post (and quoted) that did not. Fruit of the poisoned tree.
Love it.
A study at Duke indicated the following:
Also of note, the authors wrote that contact tracing has found no evidence linking transmission to in-person classes.
Also RIT is in Orange, but has said that in person classes can remain for the same reason.
So while many schools are reverting back to online only as cases went up, most of the spread happened off campus social gatherings, or on campus dorm floors (socially).
now I get to have in person classes, most students need to be residing or commuting to the school, so its a catch 22, but in the case of K-12 I have also noticed that most cases are because of what happens outside the classroom, and not classroom spread. I hope this would tell states and counties that leaving schools open is not the problem.
@sdl0625 – I agree that we have seen very little spread within schools here in CT, but what I think has happened is that too many seem to believe that if school is open, all other restrictions should be eliminated. So, car pools, parties, socializing, sports, etc. The students pull off their masks as soon as they walk off the school grounds. You can see them around town walking in large packs or riding in cars, and yes, indoor parties are taking place also. I do not give the schools much more time.
Gettysburg College announced today that seniors, juniors and sophomores will return for spring semester February 1st. Freshmen were alone on campus this semester.
Single rooms, a ramped up testing protocol and strict rules in place this spring.
My kid was already doing remote learning when the college sent most of the students home three weeks into the semester. But even though it sounds like spring is going to start out just like the fall, I think he’s going to go back to campus.
NYC public schools will close starting tomorrow.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/18/nyregion/nyc-schools-covid.html
Because they went above the 3% positivity rate threshhold.
My heart is just full of sympathy for these poor administrators, trying to make decisions for what should happen/who should come back to campus in 2+ months.
Looking at any graph of various locations from February to today, we can all see that 2 months can make a WORLD of difference. Two months from now, we may have flattened the curve in various locations, OR things could somehow be much worse. So hard to know! For me, it would be difficult at this point to try to assure any students that they will be welcome back come late January. Maybe I could say that I’m prioritizing certain classes, and there’s a possibility that we’d start all remote, but eventually if it’s safe at the time, I’d plan to invite on to campus grades X, Y, and Z… I feel like that’s all I could say. I’d hate to get hopes up and then see things continue to go off the rails and have to retract those invitations. What a tough job!!
There are states with >50% positivity rates. Are their schools/colleges still in session? I’m going to guess yes but I don’t really know. What are those administrators saying about Spring?
It seems as if COVID isn’t going anywhere and many campuses won’t be having in-person visit opportunities for students and families. So how will you and your kid make your final decision? What things will you consider as a parent?? Have any of your schools provided opportunities that provided parents information that you’ve found useful?
ND has had 1,368 undergrads of about 8.700 test positive. Their 7 day positivity rate is 7.7%…they have more students cases almost every day than Duke gets in two weeks… Epidemiologists say that if the positive rate is 5% or more, you’re probably not testing enough. Six tests this semester? My D has had 2-3 tests/week all semester.
I love ND and it’s a multigenerational school in our family. But it’s not really just about the students getting sick, in my mind. It’s about spreading it to the community. It’s about the person that the unknowing student spreads it to at the bar, who then unknowingly spreads it to a friend, who then unknowingly spreads it to someone who ends up in the hospital. When your students are ADDING to the community’s numbers, is that fair? It’s about the stress and risk to the health care workers who are at their breaking point. Notre Dame has plenty of resources to have done more testing. PS all of our students are living with Covid stress, I understand that. Many of them have the same fear. My comments are not against your student or really, the students. But I hold ND to a high standard and it has not lived up to it.
My student will have all of her classes in person next semester. But she will continue to have very frequent testing, and her school will continue to disallow spectators at sports.