112 Fraternity Members At The University Of Washington Have Tested Positive For COVID
 

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article...ton?origin=shp

They're living on campus now?

Greekchat is acting weird and won't let me post anything in quotes right now, but from the article:

Around 1,000 students have been living in 25 fraternity houses in a neighborhood north of the University of Washington campus, according to the university. The residents of the houses, including those who tested positive, those who had symptoms, and others who may have been exposed, were asked to quarantine or self-isolate.

A popup university testing site, set up earlier this week near Greek Row, had conducted nearly 1,300 tests as of the holiday weekend, the university said.

Gottlieb said that most of the houses had previously taken measures to reduce their resident capacity by up to 50% in summer in response to the pandemic, but added that those measures were not sufficient without "vigilant, daily preventive measures, such as wearing face coverings, physical distancing and hand hygiene."

I find it interesting that their headquarters would agree to take on the potential risk of COVID infection by not closing their houses for the interim.

Georgia campuses are closed down for the summer--online instruction only--and I guess I just assumed that the nation was like that.

Georgia Tech just announced school would open without students required to masks. The faculty—especially the older ones—are both furious and afraid. But GA’s governor requires all state schools to follow HIS state guidelines, not allowing each college administration to form their own roles.
Here we go...sometimes the powers that be don’t act with EVERYBODY’S best interests at heart.

I'm feeling like classes in the fall are looking less and less likely in many locations.

Is it more beneficial to bring everyone back just to increase numbers and send them home again?

What about the professors who have health issues?

I don't know the answers but numbers like these make me so anxious.

That's just outright frightening. Perfect storm for COVID to take over the campus and especially do damage to older professors and staff already at risk.

“Optional masks” are just a bad idea all around. I feel awful for the staff, faculty and students who don’t want to pul themselves at risk.

As a younger college staff member, I have been stressed about going back to work and we have been mandated to wear masks. I can control how I do things in my office. I cannot control what happens in a classroom or shared spaces, like bathrooms. We have to trust that everyone coming on these campuses is doing what needs to be done and frankly I just...don’t. :rolleyes:

My uncle is an ultrasound supervisor and he told us that most of the Covid-19 patients he’s seen have been under the age of 40. He saw a healthy 36-year-old parish in 2 1/2 days, after entering the hospital. At this point everyone should treat this as a high risk. It’s like Russian Roulette, except we are all unwilling participants.

Georgia is truly the "hold my beer" state.

I know exactly what you mean. Thankfully my employer is being flexible about letting me come in only a couple days a week right now, even though I was originally supposed to be back at the office full-time starting July 1st. I plan to play it by ear and go in 2-3 days a week through July. I also worry about the bathroom and other shared spaces, especially with new cases/hospitalizations/ICU beds ticking up, up, and up even more where I live. It's unsettling. :(

I just keep thinking that as much as everyone wants to be back at school and as much as the schools are pushing it, what will it look like if students start getting sick?

Will an online option need to be offered anyway to the students who test positive and can't come to class?

And what if they live in the dorms? How will they use the bathroom (if communal) and not infect others? How will they eat if they have a meal plan? Who is going to volunteer to bring them food from the cafeteria two to three times a day?

It's recommended that people self-quarantine if they have contact with someone who is known to have tested positive. Does that mean that the professors that taught that one student will have to quarantine and teach their classes from home for a couple weeks? Will their students be forced to stay away from campus (or in their dorm room), as well?

What if those students are in labs that are hands-on, can't be taught from afar, and now they have to make it up later? Sure, that might be OK if there's one student who's sick, but what happens if there are numerous cases staggered over the course of the semester and all need special accommodations?

I usually try to look at the positive side of things, but I do NOT see this going well.

I don't know what the answer is. My 2 youngest sons are upperclassmen at the same university. Neither one has classes that can be taken remotely.

One has advanced Spanish conversation classes that usually fare poorly online. The other has intermediate Japanese conversation classes plus advanced botany with labs plus his teaching internship. They can't take a gap year to study their languages overseas because overseas study just isn't happening now.

This is exactly what keeps me busy all day, and keeps me up at night, as a department chair and a facilities volunteer. Putting classes online is a major undertaking, and hugely time-consuming if you're trying to do it right. All of this is a logistical nightmare and the amount of planning going on behind the scenes is incredible. But, it will all be for naught if everyone takes off their masks, hangs out at parties, etc. I asked our outgoing house manager last week if she'd heard of any members or parents who were nervous about coming back and she said, "oh no, everyone's over it and they just want to get back." That's exactly what I'm afraid of....

Exactly. My Twitter feed was full of news networks reporting beach parties, house parties and buffet style cookouts this past weekend, from locations all over the country. The commitment has to be there. I mean they won’t be able to even trace it if an outbreak happens.

School should be online this fall, if not for the entire year. Rush should be virtual. Until people realize we're still in Phase 1 - as Dr. Fauci reminded all this week - we'll continue to see spread and deaths. College campuses are the perfect storm - students who won't distance, won't wear masks unless required (classes) and older faculty/staff...then kids take the disease home to mom, dad, sibling and grandparents. Collateral damage at a mass level.

Life isn't going back to pre-Covid style - not for a few years and I'd bet there are some ways in which we'll never return to pre-Covid living.. Read an article today where a scientist from Johns Hopkins said we'll need to wear masks for at least a FEW years. Long haul unless we want the country to continue to shut down, more people die, global (and national) travel limited to the Nth degree, etc. It's getting ugly. I have no patience for those who refuse to wear a mask unless it's truly medically indicated. Companies everywhere are having to change how they do business, colleges and schools need to as well to avoid spread.

I'm appalled at the governors who've used a mocking tone to talk about New York City saying "we don't have that problem", who won't enforce wearing a mask and now have 'the problem' growing like wildfire. People who think masks are a political weapon. Want to see this insanity in action? Google "Palm Beach County hearing on masks" and watch your jaw drop so fast you won't know what hit you. Women calling the mask message and doctors "evil" and saying "we'll do citizen arrests on anyone who tries to make us wear one." Chilling.

And...now we know it can be travel via airborne droplets:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/h...e=most-popular

It appears that enough faculty members spoke up and now masks will be required at universities in Georgia. Good for them!

University System of Georgia to require masks in classrooms after all

GREAT NEWS! This is an example of sound reasoning and the power of organized academic input (not to mention common sense!) over politically-generated decisions. Maybe we’ll see more of this!

Great news from Georgia. Meanwhile, in Florida...

Florida Orders Schools to Reopen in Fall Despite Rising Coronavirus Cases
https://www.usnews.com/news/educatio...onavirus-cases

Hadn't thought about students returning to our local college from all places far and near until this morning's local NPR report. Thank goodness we have a nearby hospital available should COVID19 cases begin to surge with the return of students. Not sure how some small southern campuses in more rural areas will cope with any possible illness surge when the Fall 2020 semester starts.