Is social distancing even possible at universities?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t students socially distance and try to keep to themselves for two weeks on arrival. Then they should stay on campus and not roam around outside. Assuming they catch positive cases early, the campus should be relatively well protected. Although I guess faculty and workers could bring the virus in from outside. This model may work for small SLACs where students all live on campus

Because campuses are not closed, so you need ongoing monitoring and social cooperation. Students go off campus to restaurants, grocery stores, drug stores. ANd yes, staff and faculty go back and forth and are also older and more at risk themselves.

[Anonymous]

The schools that are in urban areas should try and encourage the kids to stay on campus as much as possible. Not use public transport or go out in the city at least for the first semester. Try to keep social events on campus. Easier said than done. I Know

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t students socially distance and try to keep to themselves for two weeks on arrival. Then they should stay on campus and not roam around outside. Assuming they catch positive cases early, the campus should be relatively well protected. Although I guess faculty and workers could bring the virus in from outside. This model may work for small SLACs where students all live on campus

They should socially distance and wear masks when in groups and inside. But they should actually spend lots of time outside since the virus is less catchy outdoors. Maybe even some classes or study groups could happen outside and meals could be outside. Under tents even ...just a thought. Since the weather should still be nice the first two months .....

Stanford, UCLA and USC are all talking about using tents for classrooms and other purposes. Schools in mild climates have an advantage there. Not sure how well that works in places that have actual winters.

I think some living arrangements would have to change -- frat and sorority houses? No way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools that are in urban areas should try and encourage the kids to stay on campus as much as possible. Not use public transport or go out in the city at least for the first semester. Try to keep social events on campus. Easier said than done. I Know

Many students live off campus...

[Anonymous]

How is college much different than living in NYC?

Multiple units in one building, very few live alone, etc. Require masks, distance as much as possible, hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How is college much different than living in NYC?

Multiple units in one building, very few live alone, etc. Require masks, distance as much as possible, hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Shared bathroom, group dining..

[Anonymous]

I do a lot of businesses at colleges and university. The worst crowds were at the community colleges in California. These truly had a crush of students outside between classes under the sidewalk canopies used to get around on campus.

I felt I was in a crush of humanity trying to get to the office of my customer on campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting thread from a professor at Grinnell https://twitter.com/RandyRenstrom/status/1262039008693059585

This is great. And I think it can be accomplished with some leadership. My college son is all for wearing a mask and doing whatever it takes. I think on some level he thinks it’s cool that his generation is on the forefront of this and this will be a marker of their “time” in college ....believe it or not. He definitely doesn’t feel like a victim or like he’s losing out. I’m probably feeling more like that than him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t students socially distance and try to keep to themselves for two weeks on arrival. Then they should stay on campus and not roam around outside. Assuming they catch positive cases early, the campus should be relatively well protected. Although I guess faculty and workers could bring the virus in from outside. This model may work for small SLACs where students all live on campus

They should socially distance and wear masks when in groups and inside. But they should actually spend lots of time outside since the virus is less catchy outdoors. Maybe even some classes or study groups could happen outside and meals could be outside. Under tents even ...just a thought. Since the weather should still be nice the first two months .....

Stanford, UCLA and USC are all talking about using tents for classrooms and other purposes. Schools in mild climates have an advantage there. Not sure how well that works in places that have actual winters.

I think some living arrangements would have to change -- frat and sorority houses? No way.

Why? My kid’s frat house is much safer than a dorm. On campus housing so no lease if college closes, 30 guy capacity in singles and doubles, they have a chef and eat meals there instead of the dining halls. The alternative is 200 person dorms or 4-8 person apartments and eating in crowded dining halls.

[Anonymous]

"Depends on the school and their spring break. No one even announced shutting down until March 9-10-11 in Boston area and were not actually off campus until closer to March 15; many later. High schools were open another week after that.

There were a ton of kids "sick" in Feb at my kid's Boston-area college, so many that a few of her classes that last week of Feb had been cancelled by the prof for too many being absent for one, and yes, for the prof being sick for another. (Prof is fine.)"

Exactly, another part of the reason that it seems there were few cases on campus is that when schools shut down all their cases went home and got tested/counted there and not on campus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is college much different than living in NYC?

Multiple units in one building, very few live alone, etc. Require masks, distance as much as possible, hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Shared bathroom, group dining..

Dining could be spaced. The bathroom situation is inevitable, but you’d encounter the same risk in an office, store, or restaurant.
The most current research shows that infection from a surface is significantly less likely than infection from a person, so if you’re not in a crowded bathroom and you wash your hands after, the risk should be manageable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t students socially distance and try to keep to themselves for two weeks on arrival. Then they should stay on campus and not roam around outside. Assuming they catch positive cases early, the campus should be relatively well protected. Although I guess faculty and workers could bring the virus in from outside. This model may work for small SLACs where students all live on campus

I live a few blocks from a college campus and it is laughable to me that anyone thinks 18-22 year olds who have been stuck at home with their parents for months are going to voluntarily stay on-campus/stay indoors for any period of time once they’re let loose. Kids who stayed behind here have continued having house parties like nothing’s happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Depends on the school and their spring break. No one even announced shutting down until March 9-10-11 in Boston area and were not actually off campus until closer to March 15; many later. High schools were open another week after that.

There were a ton of kids "sick" in Feb at my kid's Boston-area college, so many that a few of her classes that last week of Feb had been cancelled by the prof for too many being absent for one, and yes, for the prof being sick for another. (Prof is fine.)"

Exactly, another part of the reason that it seems there were few cases on campus is that when schools shut down all their cases went home and got tested/counted there and not on campus.

That was likely the flu. My dd at BU came down with what I would have sworn was COVID-19. First symptom was shortness of breath, followed by high fever for 5 days, went to the ER for a breathing treatment and fluids. Never had nasal congestion. Tested positive for flu A.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

There are several ways colleges are going to try to enforce social distancing.

Every student gets a single. This would reduce by student housing by 50-70%. Most colleges have very few singles and often have doubles and even suites with 4-5 students.

You have a scheduled time to shower in am so students are spaced out. Students have to be off of cleaning and disinfecting. Would only work if they showers twice a week, for a 3 minutes only and start at 3 am. Most college students are not ready for navy procedures plus the bathrooms have sinks and toilets. Hard to schedule when you have to pee.


Dorms for quarantined students who test positive. M Again, the schools do not have extra empty dorms sitting around.

Tests administered to all students upon arrival at the college Not nearly enough testing materials to do this plus the logistics of testing 5K-50K students is impractical.

Masks mandatory. Sure masks will be mandatory but the cloth masks and bandanas are not very effective plus the practice of pulling your mask done defeats any type of mask.

No gatherings larger than 10. There go in person classes. Are you expecting a surge in available classrooms and new buildings along with an army of adjuncts. In some schools lecture halls are filled with 200+ students.

Spacing in cafeterias and to go options. To go is fine but where are they are going to sit and eat?

Classes are broken into groups so social distancing can be observed in classrooms — such as group A is in person on Mon while group B is in person on Weds. On the day you aren’t in person you participate remotely.

Only pragmatic if you substantially cut down the number of students. Many in fact most classes only meet for twice a week and most classes are over 50 people with the exception of seminar style courses. Maybe each student goes to "class" once a month but what is the point of being there then.

None of this is remotely possible if you bring all the students back. Schools would need to only bring back 25%-30% of their student body, which is what Harvard medical is doing. The only students on campus in classes will be second year students which is 25%. Medical schools have a natural differential in that 3rd and 4th year students are on rounds in a hospital or in labs. A similar distinction does not exist across undergraduate and graduate programs or law schools. Schools will not be able to determine who gets to come back and who has to stay home.

Thank you for talking sense on this forum. People not affiliated with universities are not thinking of all these details. There is just not enough space to spread the students out. Most have already signed up for fall classes. What are we supposed to do, kick some of them out? Having 25% of them attend at a time would mean they each come for like 30 min once every other week. So pointless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is college much different than living in NYC?

Multiple units in one building, very few live alone, etc. Require masks, distance as much as possible, hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Shared bathroom, group dining..

Dining could be spaced. The bathroom situation is inevitable, but you’d encounter the same risk in an office, store, or restaurant.
The most current research shows that infection from a surface is significantly less likely than infection from a person, so if you’re not in a crowded bathroom and you wash your hands after, the risk should be manageable.

The plans for elementary schools are to put in partitions between communal sinks, which could be done in dorms and academic buildings too. If kids are using soap in showers (god I hope so) then bathrooms are less bothersome. And yes hiring more cleaning crews would have to happen.