U.S.-based colleges and universities continue to struggle with how they will receive students while containing the spread of COVID-19. Nearly 40% of schools say they will bring students back to campus, according to the FILE – A student takes classes online with his companions using the Zoom app at home.Researchers say schools would have to test their students every two days for COVID-19 to ensure their health and safety, and screening after symptoms emerge won’t control the spread, according to a study published July 31. “We believe that there is a safe way for students to return to college in fall 2020,” the study authors wrote in JAMA Network, the publishing site of the FILE – People walk on the Stanford University campus beneath Hoover Tower in Stanford, Calif., March 14, 2019.At private universities like FILE – Old Campus at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., Nov. 28, 2012.Other educators say it is a struggle to manage social behaviors among young college students that might thwart their efforts. University of Connecticut Professor Sherry Pagoto in the allied health sciences department, with graduate student Laurie Groshon, conducted student focus groups about returning to campus.College students return to campus in a few weeks. We wanted to know their thoughts about quarantine, symptom tracking, contact tracing, and mask wearing on campus, so my grad student @laurie_groshon and I did focus groups to find out.
Here’s what students told us
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— Sherry Pagoto (@DrSherryPagoto) July 11, 2020“Every student we asked said that this is not realistic and will likely fail,” Pagoto tweeted. “They pointed out that students are eager to see each other and will find a way to do so when they arrive on campus. They said that students who live one to two hours away will try to find a way to go home,” she tweeted. “They said off campus students will likely find their way on campus.” Dr. Ravina Kullar, an infectious disease expert, backed up the students’ feedback.“Preventing infection requires everyone to abide by strict infection control measures, including mask-wearing, hand hygiene, and social distancing on campus,” Kullar told VOA. Colleges have a responsibility to supply students with adequate screening, masks and hand hygiene supplies, Kullar said, but success lies in the hands of the students and staff in abiding by strict COVID-guidance and not having mass social gatherings. So many opportunities for exposure, and absolutely no routine testing. I’m worried.
— Dr. Theresa Chapple (@Theresa_Chapple) July 31, 2020>
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