JMU Sending Students Home

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are these cases counted in the VA daily numbers of positive cases?

Yes, because the test was administered in VA and the testing company has to report it to public health authorities in their (testing company's) local jurisdiction.

Plus, it's a case in the Virginia community. It's not like students are in a bubble -- they interact with each other, but also with university staff (and their families) and faculty (and their families), and, if they live or travel off-campus, to local residents. An infectious student can easily spread COVID outside of the university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, let’s go ahead and scatter those new infections far and wide. Great idea!

Do you expect them to build a few $100M dorms overnight to house everyone who needs to quarantine?

Motels.

Tufts has set up trailers with isolation housing.

[Anonymous]

Again, I really, really, REALLY don't understand why they didn't require testing of all students before returning. I realize that wouldn't have completely eliminated some positive cases from cropping up, but without testing, who knows how many asymptomatic kids they brought to Harrisonburg.

Virginia Tech, GMU, William and Mary, VCU, UVA... all of these schools set up testing as a requirement. They all seems to be doing okay.

Was Radford (which I also hear has a huge uptick in positive cases) another school that didn't require testing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, let’s go ahead and scatter those new infections far and wide. Great idea!

Do you expect them to build a few $100M dorms overnight to house everyone who needs to quarantine?

Motels.

Tufts has set up trailers with isolation housing.

I think it’s fair to say that Tufts and JMU are working with a different budget

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:JMU did not require students test before arriving, did not test them as soon as they arrived, and had no plan to do regular testing of everyone. It said it would only test symptomatic students. By the time you're symptomatic you have already been infectious possibly for quite s few days without knowing it so you've gone around spreading the virus.

Of course this was going to happen there.

Meanwhile my friend is a staffer at a college (not in VA) where they are testing all students every 10 days all semester long, and all staff every 14 days. So far, so good. My own DC at a small college (also not VA) had to send a negative test result from home before coming on campus, was tested immediately on arrival and has been tested twice since that first campus test. Also so far, so good. If a student at either of the colleges tests positive they're immediately escorted to a quarantine dorm already set aside for this.

Smaller schools with the ability to test often and arrangements for quarantine may be able to manage this. Huge schools that decide just to "let it rip," like JMU apparently has, can't manage. At least some other large universities have tried with tests etc. JMU seems appallingly awful re: testing.

Where would JMU get the money to pay for all this testing? They should have required a negative test before starting but there are also students who live year round off campus in Harrisonburg. Really only freshman live on campus. It would have been nearly impossible for them to stay on top of this with the state of testing in VA right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, let’s go ahead and scatter those new infections far and wide. Great idea!

Do you expect them to build a few $100M dorms overnight to house everyone who needs to quarantine?

Motels.

Tufts has set up trailers with isolation housing.

I think it’s fair to say that Tufts and JMU are working with a different budget

+100 People don’t get this. Most schools can’t afford weekly asymptomatic testing either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:JMU did not require students test before arriving, did not test them as soon as they arrived, and had no plan to do regular testing of everyone. It said it would only test symptomatic students. By the time you're symptomatic you have already been infectious possibly for quite s few days without knowing it so you've gone around spreading the virus.

Of course this was going to happen there.

Meanwhile my friend is a staffer at a college (not in VA) where they are testing all students every 10 days all semester long, and all staff every 14 days. So far, so good. My own DC at a small college (also not VA) had to send a negative test result from home before coming on campus, was tested immediately on arrival and has been tested twice since that first campus test. Also so far, so good. If a student at either of the colleges tests positive they're immediately escorted to a quarantine dorm already set aside for this.

Smaller schools with the ability to test often and arrangements for quarantine may be able to manage this. Huge schools that decide just to "let it rip," like JMU apparently has, can't manage. At least some other large universities have tried with tests etc. JMU seems appallingly awful re: testing.

Where would JMU get the money to pay for all this testing? They should have required a negative test before starting but there are also students who live year round off campus in Harrisonburg. Really only freshman live on campus. It would have been nearly impossible for them to stay on top of this with the state of testing in VA right now.

You bill the students for the Covid testing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:*scratches JMU off the list for where to apply this year*

People apply to JMU? I always thought it was just where you ended up at the last minute. Enroll and pay sort of thing.

Rude.

But no, many students are not admitted to JMU, including my child. My child is not as competitive as most on this board (he only took one AP exam, but he got a 5 on it) and his ACT was only 30. He had some depression in his junior year that resulted in very bad grades, which I'm sure was the lead factor in him not being accepted.

[Anonymous]

Virginia Tech, GMU, William and Mary, VCU, UVA... all of these schools set up testing as a requirement. They all seems to be doing okay.

Not true.....I know kids at VT and VCU....testing, unless done on weekly basis is worthless.

While #s are not spiking as quickly as at JMU or Radford....

Va Tech: https://ready.vt.edu/dashboard.html -- as of today positive cases at just under 200....give it a few more weeks and then see where it is. Also of note I believe the percentage of off-campus housing students at JMU is higher than VaTech.

VCU: https://together.vcu.edu/dashboard/ -- as of today positive cases at around 150....give it a few more weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:*scratches JMU off the list for where to apply this year*

People apply to JMU? I always thought it was just where you ended up at the last minute. Enroll and pay sort of thing.

Rude.

But no, many students are not admitted to JMU, including my child. My child is not as competitive as most on this board (he only took one AP exam, but he got a 5 on it) and his ACT was only 30. He had some depression in his junior year that resulted in very bad grades, which I'm sure was the lead factor in him not being accepted.

PP is an arsehole who thinks they are a special snowflake. But that comment proves they are dumb as much of their self identity comes from where they went to college, presumably years and years ago. Pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Again, I really, really, REALLY don't understand why they didn't require testing of all students before returning. I realize that wouldn't have completely eliminated some positive cases from cropping up, but without testing, who knows how many asymptomatic kids they brought to Harrisonburg.

Virginia Tech, GMU, William and Mary, VCU, UVA... all of these schools set up testing as a requirement. They all seems to be doing okay.

Was Radford (which I also hear has a huge uptick in positive cases) another school that didn't require testing?

VT only required testing for on campus students. Radford required testing, but allowed students to return prior to receiving the results.

-- David

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Virginia Tech, GMU, William and Mary, VCU, UVA... all of these schools set up testing as a requirement. They all seems to be doing okay.

Not true.....I know kids at VT and VCU....testing, unless done on weekly basis is worthless.

While #s are not spiking as quickly as at JMU or Radford....

Va Tech: https://ready.vt.edu/dashboard.html -- as of today positive cases at just under 200....give it a few more weeks and then see where it is. Also of note I believe the percentage of off-campus housing students at JMU is higher than VaTech.

VCU: https://together.vcu.edu/dashboard/ -- as of today positive cases at around 150....give it a few more weeks.

https://www.vacovidstatus.com/2020/09/daily-status-sept-2.html

I cover many of the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:JMU did not require students test before arriving, did not test them as soon as they arrived, and had no plan to do regular testing of everyone. It said it would only test symptomatic students. By the time you're symptomatic you have already been infectious possibly for quite s few days without knowing it so you've gone around spreading the virus.

Of course this was going to happen there.

Meanwhile my friend is a staffer at a college (not in VA) where they are testing all students every 10 days all semester long, and all staff every 14 days. So far, so good. My own DC at a small college (also not VA) had to send a negative test result from home before coming on campus, was tested immediately on arrival and has been tested twice since that first campus test. Also so far, so good. If a student at either of the colleges tests positive they're immediately escorted to a quarantine dorm already set aside for this.

Smaller schools with the ability to test often and arrangements for quarantine may be able to manage this. Huge schools that decide just to "let it rip," like JMU apparently has, can't manage. At least some other large universities have tried with tests etc. JMU seems appallingly awful re: testing.

Where would JMU get the money to pay for all this testing? They should have required a negative test before starting but there are also students who live year round off campus in Harrisonburg. Really only freshman live on campus. It would have been nearly impossible for them to stay on top of this with the state of testing in VA right now.

That's the whole point of my post. Smaller schools that can afford testing will possibly be able to have on-campus life. Huge ones like JMU that can't afford enough testing (and that somehow didn't think to require families to pay extra so the colleges could test all semester long) are not going to make it. As JMU's decision to go virtual has shown.

And the idea is to test all students -- including and especially the ones living off campus.

JMU should have known that (to use your words) "it would have been nearly impossible for them to stay on top of this with the state of testing in VA right now." They never should have reopened in person at all.

As for the state of testing in VA -- an earlier PP said JMU was depending on tests done in the community. Is that accurate? Were students told just to go to whatever CVS or urgent care place they could find to get their own tests once they were back at JMU? Were kids responsible for reporting results to JMU themselves, if tests were done not by the university but by any random testing place a student could locate? I'm asking seriously, someone please post how that was supposed to work. We had to get our DC a test here however we could , but that was for a single test before arriving on campus. All other tests are done by the campus health service. Did JMU have its own testiing or not? I'm not clear on that, I only know they were planning to test only if a student was symptomatic.

DC's college contracted with two different testing vendors back in midsummer to ensure it would have enough tests and swift processing and results return. Some other colleges have converted science department labs for covid testing so they can test on campus and process the tests right there. Was JMU doing nothing like any of this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, let’s go ahead and scatter those new infections far and wide. Great idea!

Do you expect them to build a few $100M dorms overnight to house everyone who needs to quarantine?

Motels.

Tufts has set up trailers with isolation housing.

I think it’s fair to say that Tufts and JMU are working with a different budget

+100 People don’t get this. Most schools can’t afford weekly asymptomatic testing either.

DP. It's a matter of priorities. Maybe some of the budget set aside for athletics should have been converted for testing etc. Not just by JMU. By any school that claimed it wanted students safely back on campus. I know, I know -- athletics is a money-maker and with no athletics, the money's not there, right? Eh. There has to be some budget there for it. Sports isn't realistically going to happen anywhere this year, so shut it down and repurpose for what really matters -- student and public health. Too late now, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, let’s go ahead and scatter those new infections far and wide. Great idea!

Do you expect them to build a few $100M dorms overnight to house everyone who needs to quarantine?

Motels.

Tufts has set up trailers with isolation housing.

I think it’s fair to say that Tufts and JMU are working with a different budget

+100 People don’t get this. Most schools can’t afford weekly asymptomatic testing either.

DP. It's a matter of priorities. Maybe some of the budget set aside for athletics should have been converted for testing etc. Not just by JMU. By any school that claimed it wanted students safely back on campus. I know, I know -- athletics is a money-maker and with no athletics, the money's not there, right? Eh. There has to be some budget there for it. Sports isn't realistically going to happen anywhere this year, so shut it down and repurpose for what really matters -- student and public health. Too late now, though.

I’m PP. I meant that with their current budget priorities, they can’t afford it. My kid’s lac is having sports practices though.