Re: UGA, yes a number of kids are there taking summer classes (which are online) and some are just living in Athens, working, and socializing. However, in addition to that, many Atlanta area kids are going to Athens on the weekends to stay with friends and party.
i think many of these college kids living in these college towns away from their parents are going out and partying and when they get Covid , they almost look at it as well better now than later and they are hoping they will at least have immunity in the fall. If my D did not have a job that requires her to be very careful, she would likely be considering this “rather be sick now then the fall”. My S is such a socially distanced person even before COVID, he, on the other hand, has barely left the house. he has even considered the now versus the fall scenario if it did not put myself and my husband at risk. We know that we dont know if having COVID provides immunity and even if it does for how long, and there are reports of people getting it in March and then again June. But if there is any immunity for some I see these college kids wanting it during the summer.
“I’m one of the people who contributed to the 9,000-person day,” said Ian Scott, a 19-year-old college sophomore in Orlando who tested positive on Friday. He has no idea how he got it.
Mr. Scott said that for young people, getting tested has become an amusing pastime. They challenge each other to see who can get the nasal swab test without crying. About half of his fraternity has tested positive.
“We’re seeing positive, positive, positive, positive,” he said. “My generation says: ‘Let’s get this over with. Let’s suck it up for two weeks, sit in our rooms, play video games, play with our phones, finish online classes, and it’s over.”
Mr. Scott barely felt sick, and was fine by the time the test results came back. Patients like him could help account for the fact that while Florida’s daily case count has increased fivefold in two weeks, the rate of deaths has not increased so far. State records show that hospitalization rates have inched up but are not at crisis levels.”
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Please remember that all posts should be confined to the topic of school in the fall and COVID-19. General COVID discussions are not permitted. Thanks.
Well, Bates is officially going back. Right up the street from Bowdoin.
https://www.bates.edu/fall-2020/2020/06/30/fall-2020-announcement/
I wish them well because, if they can pull it off, then Bowdoin can have kids back in the spring. Can’t wait to see what happens.
It seems like your argument is “Well you can’t do it forever, so you can’t do it now.” I don’t see how that follows.
While I expect to be part in, part out of the classroom, I don’t blame my colleagues who have requested to be online. No one really knows yet how this is going to go, disaster, manageable chaos, or nothing burger. For some people to take a wait-and-see approach does not seem that unreasonable. We will know more by August and we will have the Fall semester to see how well all these various plans work, or don’t.
If in the fall students are wearing masks in classrooms would they also really need to social distance? Isn’t it one or the other is good enough? Of course both would be more effective in a way but really, what’s the difference between 3’ and 6’ apart if masks are worn in classrooms? Sure, have smaller class sizes to limit to say 50 or even 25 to make a potential outbreak (necessary quarantine) smaller but why spread out if wearing a mask?
A local HS just announced fall plans. Freshman and Juniors will be on-site. Sophomores and Seniors will be online. At least they made a decision instead of waiting a week before school starts.
I vote for nothing burger!
@chmcnm which state are you in?
Well, my D found out officially this morning that she is not going back in the fall. Her two closest friends from home, along with her brother, will be returning to their respective campuses, while she will be stuck home with her parents. She is not a happy camper.
Yes, my understanding is that it’s like antilock brakes and seatbelts that you need both in the classroom and even then it’s not 100%.
@shuttlebus, what university (or which state)?
It doesn’t really matter what you or I think the need is; what matters is what the state Dept. of Ed. will allow in educational institutions. In my state, the higher ed commissioner has already told the colleges and universities that 6 ft. distancing, plus masks indoors, are required for reopening. So those restrictions have to be taken into account when designing instruction.
There are going to be many times, when traversing between classes, through building doors, in narrow hallways etc., when it won’t be possible to stay 6 feet away. I’ve noticed that some reopening plans (like Bates’ above) are requiring 30 minutes between classes to slow down the crush. I don’t know if this will actually help, as no matter when a class starts, you always have people showing up last minute.
One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is that it might actually be safer to be in a bubble at college than in your home town?
For example, D20 lives in Los Angeles County and we have had 97,000 cases (highest in the nation) and 3,300 death from CV-19. Contrast that with Durham County with 3,500 cases and “only” 61 deaths.
Just saying…
https://www.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/index.html#county-map
RPI, New York
But at home she can stay in your house, social distance, etc. At school, that will be harder.
Yes, I agree. Seeing adult and teenage behavior around here (very hard hit New England state, but currently has good numbers) I don’t believe for a second there will be the type of ‘home’ enforcement that is being discussed at colleges. If they can keep the students in a ‘student bubble’ and away from profs, they are probably going to be in better shape.
Resident students should have to commit to staying on campus - and off campus students should commit to only going back and forth from their apartments to campus except essential grocery trips, etc.
DD teaches at a prep school in Georgia, and they have announced parts of their plan to reopen in August. The change that affects teachers directly is the SD plan for classrooms. Even with expanding to use non-classroom spaces as classrooms, they are going to have to reduce the number of students in many classes. As a result, most teachers will have to teach 5 classes rather than 4. (Same number of preps.) The number of students will be the same. So teachers will lose a planning period. School is assuming all instructions will be in-person. We shall see.
More details from Colby-
https://covid19.colby.edu/2020/06/30/the-plan-for-returning-to-campus/
Most important sentence -
Some Highlights:
- extensive testing
- additional housing
-limited travel
-focus is on in-person instruction and unlimited leaves will be granted.
wow - Colby’s re-opening plan is so drastically different from Bowdoin’s (even more so than Bates). Big emphasis on in-person classes (to the exclusion of online really). Does it give any detail about housing anywhere? And both Bates and Colby seem to be a bit more positive re athletic opportunities. Really difficult for outside folks to see how 3 very similar schools all within an hour of each other and all “working with experts” come up with such different plans.
Yeah that in-person class thing at Colby is interesting. They did say they will have to run classes into the evening and weekends. Maybe Bowdoin faculty wouldn’t agree to that. And not having a full line of remote classes forces kids to decide if they go or take a break. Remote learning from home doesn’t seem like a good option.
I think money is the issue here. Bowdoin chose a super conservative plan that doesn’t bring in much room and board money. From a survey we saw, about 80 students are already “definitely” taking a semester or year off. Another 400 are not sure. 1000 kids took that poll - 50% of the students.
ETA - Bates has a serious plan to get kids off campus in the virus hits a certain level. Students have to give the college a “personal departure” plan that lays out how they will be off campus in 48 hours of that decision. Kids who can drive home get only 24 hours.