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Oct 20, 20204 min read

What effects has the reopening of college campuses had on the COVID-19 pandemic?

By Ford McCracken


As college campuses slowly reopen throughout the US, concerns about Covid-19 outbreaks have also increased. This has been especially prevalent throughout the south, where Covid cases have been increasing at extremely high rates on college campuses. This is mostly due to states in the south having less restrictive Covid-19 guidelines, which has correlated with higher numbers of positive cases, deaths, etc. So what are college campuses doing to curb this crisis? And could this have been prevented? The following are examples of how different colleges have reopened; starting with the worst examples and ending with the best.


The University of Alabama

The University of Alabama has made headlines multiple times regarding Covid, most notably with their head football coach Nick Saban allegedly testing positive. While they now believe Saban’s test was a false positive—given that he produced 3 negative tests prior to their game on Saturday against. Georgia—Saban isn’t the only person on the UA campus to have Covid concerns. And while Alabama went on to beat #3 Georgia 41-24, the university is losing their other battle—the one against Covid-19.


At the beginning of September, Alabama reported that over 1,200 students had now tested positive for the coronavirus, including 900 in a single week. A lack of transparency from the university is a primary catalyst for this rapid escalation in cases. For example, the university turned half of one of its residence halls into a quarantine center for positive testing students—but they didn’t tell any of the staff. As a result, many healthy students ended up staying in the residence hall with Covid positive patients. The lack of transparency from UA is certainly hurting their Covid case numbers. But it’s not only a lack of transparency with their staff; it’s also with the public. Another report finds that Alabama instructed its faculty to keep news of the COVID outbreak away from students, even those who had possibly come into contact with the virus. This policy of not conveying key information to staff and students has been widely criticized and has only correlated with an increase in overall case numbers. If Alabama wants to stay out of the headlines, they certainly need to change their current policies, because whatever they’re doing now isn’t working.


The University of Florida

While the University of Florida has not had a major schoolwide Covid outbreak, they have still managed to make headlines. This is mainly because of their football program: Florida Head Coach Dan Mullen recently suffered a loss at Texas A&M last weekend, and he blamed part of his loss on the quantity of A&M fans present at the game. Fortunately for Mullen, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had recently updated the Covid guidelines to permit football stadiums in Florida to operate at full capacity. Mullen immediately declared that he would be packing the stadium with fans (all 90,000 of them) at the next home game against LSU. But it didn’t exactly work out this way for UF: shortly after Mullen committed to filling the stands, he tested positive for Covid-19. After that broke, 19 members of the Florida football team also tested positive. The Gators had to cancel their game against LSU, and it is unclear whether Mullen still plans to have full capacity. Regardless, Mullen’s disregard for national guidelines that strictly discourage large gatherings seems to have already turned the tables against him. Not only will Florida need to make sure their whole team is healthy before the next game, but they will also need to figure out a way to prevent the spread of Covid to the rest of the student body and faculty. If the university isn’t careful, they could soon have an Alabama-sized outbreak on their hands.


Texas A&M University

Texas A&M University didn’t exactly get off to a smooth start. Rush for sororities and fraternities got off to a quick start, and although the process was mostly virtual this year, the final bid day was still in person. Reports claim that there was little mask usage on bid day, and several parties had no masks or didn’t follow social distancing guidelines. A&M’s coronavirus cases skyrocketed, with the campuswide positivity rate reaching almost 17%. But after that, the university quickly got the situation under control. Not only did they mandate masks at events on or off-campus, but they also improved their testing program for students. They also introduced a model of transparency with their new Covid-19 dashboard, showing the school’s coronavirus case numbers daily. This has not only helped students and staff know what they’re up against, but the new guidelines have also helped to prevent increases in positive cases. While A&M still might have some of the highest cases in Texas, they are doing a far better job now than previously.


Boston University

When talking about how different universities are handling Covid-19, Boston U might be the gold standard of safety measures for their students. And unlike Texas A&M, they have been doing an exemplary job from the start. BU is requiring face coverings for all students, as well as limiting gatherings and enforcing social distancing protocols. But one program that is unique to BU (at least compared to the other schools described above) is their mandatory biweekly testing program. Every student must get tested twice a week for Covid-19, and if a student tests positive, they are immediately moved into Covid isolation housing AWAY from existing residence halls. Through all of this, the university has managed to achieve a consistent positivity rate of less than 1%.


Overall, it appears that universities have had somewhat of an impact on case numbers across the country, especially in the south. While some universities still seem to be flailing with their Covid policies, others are not wasting any time prioritizing the health and safety of their students and staff, even if they have made past mistakes. But the underlying theme of campus reopening is transparency: colleges that have been the most upfront with their students have had the biggest decline in case numbers. And if more colleges want to stay open for in-person instruction, adopting policies such as the ones practiced at Boston University seems to be the right path going forward.


Discussion Questions

  • Is randomized testing or mandatory testing more effective at colleges trying to stop Covid-19?

  • Is college football responsible for the spike in cases across the south?

  • Should college campuses continue in-person instruction without any sort of testing?


Sources Used/Further Reading


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