The best plans for colleges and universities are no guarantee during a public health crisis.
University administrators tell Fortune that they are doing everything possible to ensure public safety. But in schools like the University of Alabama system, which resumed face-to-face classes in August, cases have risen considerably. That school system has seen nearly 2,600 COVID cases on campuses as of September 10.
Logistical problems and consequent social consequences for the students themselves abound. And depending on the school you attend, the processes for dealing with COVID can be wildly divergent, as demonstrated by students and school administrators across the country.
Here’s the catch: A university cannot exactly rely on personal responsibility, something that both politicians and university administrators have played amid the pandemic, to be the only path to safety.
With COVID cases on the rise in communities surrounding colleges, such as Johnson County, Iowa, the area around Washington State University, and Alabama County that contains Auburn University, the focus of individual schools and the application of public health measures could make the difference between new outbreaks and a new, safe, if strange, way of learning.
Divergent testing strategies
Nick couldn’t even visit the University of Colorado Boulder campus before showing up there a few weeks ago; A planned trip to campus collapsed during the height of the outbreak in his hometown of New York. The 18-year-old freshman, who asked to use only his first name for privacy reasons, had to send many of his belongings to campus from across the country.
He informed them that he was a student and received the results fairly quickly, two days before getting on the plane.
With this test, called RT-LAMP, you can simply spit into a tube and get results in 45 minutes, an easy way to identify asymptomatic people. Family members or guests who help students move in face a separate set of restrictions, such as allowing only one guest to enter the hall and requiring them to leave after a set time.
“We sent the procedure in early August. Everyone (staff, teachers and students) has to take a training module that we offer online: an explanation of the precautions and what to do. And no one is allowed back on campus until we have certified that they have taken this module, “Chapman President Daniele Struppa tells.
The school has been working with Pixel, a branch of LabCorp that specializes in sending home diagnostics, and says coronavirus tests are free for students. “You have to log in. They send you this proof. There’s a prepaid FedEx package that gets shipped, “Struppa says.
Those who live off campus and do not plan to visit campus again to, for example, hang out with their friends, do not have to get tested. And despite Struppa’s emphasis that the school has been in clear and early communication about expectations, Emma Brown, a Chapman senior, says there is still some confusion.
