They are bored, so that makes them sympathetic? I have trouble with that line of reasoning. And as the university and town hemorrhage money, expecting them to spend more to entertain students is also unrealistic. It’s boring to be in the hospital, lose your job, work from home, not go to worship, movies, weddings…but that’s what grownups do. And as the students are constantly indignantly saying, they are grownups and wanted to be treated as such.
Of course no one expected the majority of them to actually follow the rules set up for their own safety, that they agreed to. But there was nothing to do but try.