LANSING, Mich. — A few months ago we showed you how universities across the country were preparing to bring students back on-campus in the middle a pandemic.since then dozens of colleges and universities have seen massive COVID outbreaks, but Chris Conte shows us how some schools are managing to keep COVID under control.
After being consumed in emptiness for months.life, albeit different, has started to return to colleges across the country. Anthony Monaco, President of Tufts University shared that "It is nice to go outside of my zoom room and hear their chatter and laughter, that the campus is alive again."
We first met President Monaco back in August when the university was preparing to bring nearly five thousand students back to campus for the first time since COVID hit.
In addition to building modular dorms for students to quartine in, the university was also implementing a rigorous COVID testing schedule. Every single student had to be tested twice a week for COVID-19 and it seems to be working. By testing twice a week you’re catching it early and often testing has been key to preventing outbreaks. Since August 3, the university has conducted 76,000 tests only 36 students have tested positive this semester.
Most notable though, the university's positivity rate is at .05 percent. The testing frequency matters, if you wait a week or ten days to test someone they could be fully symptomic and spread it to an apartment or dorm clusterst and up but not every college is testing as frequently as Tufts.
In a recent survey by the college crisis initiative looked at 1400 schools nationwide. Two out of every three college with in-person classes had no testing plan. All of it has created an incredibly different academic year for students.
It’s definitely a different environment overall.
Jackson Williams recently started his fourth year at Northeastern University. While most of his classes are virtual, he's grateful to be back on-campus. "You’re definitely conscious of it, every where you go everyone is wearing masks and you don’t step outside without one obviously."
Plenty of images have circulated recently of college students throwing large parties, potentially spreading the virus, but many others are trying their best to stay safe. As Jackson Williams explained "I feel it's important for other to consider the effects of the virus on the people around us."
So many students getting a lesson in flexbility, courtesy of COVID-19.
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