Yeah, it is a bummer re: the change to permit requirements. Oh, and do I have a story about recent discussion with parking services re: their Perry Lot policy this year. Upside might be more walking so everyone might get a little workout! Trying to be optimistic…
For those interested, VT Ready site added some content recently - residential students will be provided with a move-in “kit” that contains 2 reusable cloth masks and other items.
I am planning on making a stop on way to vacation next week to do a self tour with D21. Can anyone tell me if we will be able to just walk around the campus ourselves for is everyone banned from campus at this point?
There have been numerous changes here in Florida. A lot of universities had their plans altered because of the resurgence down here.
@burghdad you should be fine walking around campus, but you will either need to get a visitor’s pass or park in town around main street and walk onto campus (probably simpler). You likely won’t be able to enter many buildings, especially dorms.
@burghdad Per post above, my guess is it’s a 100% chance you won’t be able to enter any buildings. Even during open house a couple years ago we couldn’t go into dorms. Bookstore looks like it’s still open during the week so you can pick up some swag if you want. At most you’ll get a lap around the drillfield, a photo op at the pylons (I don’t think the chapel below is open?), maybe feed the ducks and geese at the Duckpond (take cracked corn, not bread) and you can hit the horticultural garden if you have time. Don’t get me wrong, all of those are enjoyable and if your kid digs cool looking buildings that’s even better. But depending on how much of a detour it is for you, it might not be worth it.
Swinging through Blacksburg is always worth it. Enjoy @burghdad !
We were in Blacksburg late last week and were very pleasantly surprised with how the few students we did see on campus and the local community were conducting themselves. Everyone we saw entering a restaurant (even for outdoor seating) was wearing masks until served and kids were wearing masks walking across campus even though they didn’t really need to. The ordinance Blacksburg is going to implement tomorrow should help too.
I think by in large students who have lived off campus already have a good grasp of what’s at stake. First timers for off campus housing this fall are the group to watch. Some of the on campus incoming freshmen have already shown they’re not to be trusted though… wondering if that group from Pritchard snapchat got a call or email from the university last week.
@ShenVal18 Yes, I saw that group chat photo that was circulating on Twitter. I’m honestly disappointed, but not at all surprised given that Pritchard is known for being the party dorm. I feel bad for them, since I do agree that what they are planning is definitely wrong, but the reality is, some of the rules that resident life are planning to put in place are going to be very hard to enforce. Definitely not envious of the class of 2024 being that most of their graduations were cancelled and now they won’t have the traditional college experience, but I agree that with students like the ones in that group chat, it wouldn’t surprise me if we do get sent back before Thanksgiving.
Personally I think the ratio of partying in many of the dorms (including Pritchard) is pretty comparable, it’s just that Pritchard is so large so the numbers/perception may be inflated. My student lived there 1st year and didn’t feel like it was much different than the other res halls.
Enforcement may be easier than folks think, and that idiotic chat convo almost certainly raised even greater attention. All that’s required are a couple well publicized zero-tolerance CR’s and word will spread.
Some positive news - Blacksburg % positive rate is down in the 3%-ish range and trends from test results at other schools that are starting to come in are very encouraging. I was told Radford’s results were around 1% (they did not test entire residential student body though, only students from hot spot locations I was told).
I would think VT would be fine with some partying IN DORM. As the students have been tested. It’s the going off campus and partying that would be their bigger concern.
@cbl1 Yep, and the trips home or to neighboring universities and then back to campus. Parents need to really hammer home the importance of coming to school, moving in, and staying put until the last day of in person coursework.
Haven’t seen an update email from VT today but the dashboard updated
Last week 5562 tested and 16 positives (don’t know how many this time already knew) - total 9020 tested 21 positive (.2% average). 11 students are in quarantine dorm it shows.
My daughter said a 3rd floor student on Campbell Main tested positive. The student and roommate either went home or to quarantine. I wish them a fast and safe recovery so they can get back to their dorm. What a horrible way to have to start your year in getting a positive test when your so excited.
In general I think VT has done a good job with their planning and systems for the semester. On thing I think they missed the mark on was eliminating a request for a negative test result within a window prior to move in. Testing during move in provides a great baseline, but I wonder if any of the 21 positives who were on campus for 24-48 hours prior to results could have been caught before arriving.
So far we know 5 of the 21 were positives before arrival. We don’t know how many of the recent batch knew ahead of time. For all we know another 4-5 of the new batch of 16 may have been pre-diagnosed as well.
What I think would be good is after everyone is moved in and tested do another round mid-september and another mid-october. Make it a monthly test. May not be feasible for all but what if they did a weekly sampling of each dorm - say a random test where you ask 8-10 students from each floor of a dorm to test. If you did that weekly you may be able to stop any major outbreak. We are not lacking in statisticians that can give you a sampling matrix that would be effective.
What about - if you leave Blacksburg and return you have to retest?
I guess point is that VT having ability to test 1000 a day in-house is a big advantage vs. many other universities and may be key to keeping this semester going.
What would be very proactive (and doubt every would happen) would be setup mobile test sites at all the large apartment complexes and ask all residents to test. Have a test day at each of the large complexes. That would really help with community spread outside of campus.
Even the pre-arrival test you can get it somewhere in the days waiting.
Only way to make it rather absolute would have been have them test then have them stay in their room until the results come back (don’t interact with anyone other then roommate).
With a .2% positive rate that may have been a little unneeded - but it would have stopped any further spread.
We also at this time don’t know how many of the 16 new positives had tested positive previously (as in last week 5 of the 6 already knew they had been exposed and were handling appropriately already - I assume they were still recovering and still showing positive).
The idea of having Schiffert do a drive-up event on location at the major off campus housing locations is an interesting idea. I suppose it would depend on staff resources and whether being offsite during the day would impact normal operations. They could also potentially schedule drive-through for off campus students on the weekend and use Lane parking lot. It’s back to resources again though - do they have an unlimited supply of kits? Lab capacity is great, but if no kits then ability to process is a moot point.
Ideally using a saliva based test, randomly sampled on a weekly basis would work great. But those test kits are in early stages of production so availability/approval is a little ways away.
Update: Having been in Blacksburg for the past few days now and, for the most part, it’s what you’d expect. I’ve noticed most of the students following the rules, with the exception of a few who aren’t wearing their masks properly while walking downtown. Also, since there’s been a lot of talk about it, an ECE lab class has been put online after pictures spread across social media of people sitting on the floor in a classroom in Surge, as some chairs were taken out to help with social distancing, and were clearly not six-feet apart. From what I understand, the engineering department has issued an apology to the students and has since replaced the instructor who apparently continued to teach and admitted that he didn’t check to see if the room was big enough to have the class actually social distance nor read much of the faculty/staff emails he was sent regarding the campus’s attempt to social distance.
Also, two students from neighboring apartment complexes near campus have tested positive. Definitely agree with the above post in terms of testing off campus students as well.
New article today - and they do mention they are going to be doing some type of surveillance testing.
Looks like they are getting higher percentage now that they have gone to surveillance and testing people who come in with symptoms (vs. the general population)
157 new - 48 now in isolation
With testing of symptomatic your going to see higher %. However, still very low being they were testing possible cases and exposures.
https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2020/08/unirel-dashboard-aug30.html