You got the vaccine. They didn't. College roommate situations could get tricky with COVID.
Imagine this: You're fully vaccinated and finally, after a year and a half stuck at home, headed to college. You get to campus, check into your dorm and start unpacking. Then your new roommate walks in with cool art for the wall, a mini-fridge – and a hacking cough. Then they share some surprising news: They didn't get the COVID-19 vaccine, and aren't planning to.
Now what?
So far, more than 700 colleges are requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for students or staff, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. But that leaves a couple thousand two- and four-year colleges that aren’t, and potentially millions of unvaccinated students. Many of them will be meeting new roommates this month, just as the delta variant leads to an explosion of cases nationwide, including more breakthrough cases of fully vaccinated people.
So what happens when a vaccinated student is paired with an unvaccinated student, breathing the same air in a cramped dorm room? A potentially ugly situation that could have been avoided, according to Gerri Taylor of the American College Health Association.
“We totally anticipated this,” Taylor said. “If the school requires (the vaccine), you don’t have an issue. But schools that don’t require it are going to run into trouble. If a student is on campus where there’s no mandates, they’re going to be exposed in classrooms, residence halls, at social events, everywhere. If you require it, then you have a reasonable feeling of safety.”
Vaccine mandates have become hugely divisive across the country, with some Republican governors and legislatures going so far as to ban schools from mandating masks or vaccines. This has happened despite other vaccines – for measles, mumps, rubella, polio, chickenpox and more – being required for decades. In early August the American College Health Association, in tandem with the American Council on Education and 29 other college organizations, released a statement calling some unnamed state restrictions “a recipe for disaster.”
At some schools, there’s no guarantee that COVID-positive students will even be quarantined.
"There is no expectation that universities provide separate on-campus housing for individuals who are directed by the Department of Health to quarantine because of exposure to the COVID-19 virus," Florida's state university system said Friday. In message sent to students Wednesday, the University of Florida said COVID-positive students would be expected to isolate off-campus. That policy drew criticism from some parents.
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Colleges have emphasized they're returning to pre-pandemic "normal."
"If someone chooses not to be vaccinated, that person is assuming a significant risk of contracting COVID-19," the University of Florida's administration said in a recent message to the campus. "UF cannot be responsible for that risk, given the ready availability of vaccine, and cannot modify the operation of the entire university for a minority of people who may choose not to be vaccinated."
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Small dorm rooms complicate things
So what should a vaccinated student do when stuck in close quarters with someone who’s unvaccinated?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has suggested that everyone, including fully vaccinated individuals, wear a mask indoors if they’re in an area of substantial and high transmission. But given how small dorm rooms are, it's hard to put mitigation strategies in place, Taylor said.
“It’s virtually impossible to wear a mask all the time if you’re living with somebody in a tiny dorm room,” said Dr. Annabelle de St. Maurice, co-chief infection prevention officer at UCLA Health. “It’s not recommended that anyone sleep in masks, because you could potentially have problems breathing. There are going to be instances where masking is just impossible.”
Instead, she said, colleges should get all students vaccinated as soon as possible.
“If you’re around a bunch of unvaccinated people, especially in congregant settings, the likelihood that you catch it is high," she said, compared with being on a campus full of vaccinated individuals.
Left to wonder
It's clear many students and their parents want to know the vaccination status of anyone they come in regular contact with, said Pam Schreiber, president-elect of the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International. But that knowledge bumps up against privacy issues, she said, which could present conflict on campus.
Still, when it comes to roommate situations in particular, Schreiber said residential life staff are used to “resolving issues that on the surface seem to be immovable or unresolvable.”
Higher education leaders lack a consensus on whether vaccinated and unvaccinated students should be separated.
In its reopening guidance, the college housing association argued against segregating vaccinated students from unvaccinated students because the unvaccinated group could lead to an explosion of cases. Instead, it advocated for spreading out unvaccinated students among vaccinated dorm-mates.
For its part, the CDC says roommates can be considered a household and “do not need to use masks or physically distance” unless someone is ill. It also recommended housing unvaccinated students in single dorm rooms, generally an unrealistic possibility, and encouraged colleges to consider limiting communal spaces such as dining rooms or exercise facilities to vaccinated students.
Breeze Velazquez, student body president at UCLA, lived in campus housing her first year and a half of college. She said students' rights to “do as they choose” should extend to dorm living – to an extent.
There’s an argument to be made, she said, that a student who chooses to not get the vaccine – as opposed to someone opting out for medical or religious reasons – is infringing on the rights of a vaccinated student, who should expect to be in a safe, healthy campus environment.
“When decisions you make are impacting other people, that changes things,” Velazquez said. Most students she’s been in touch with support UCLA’s vaccine mandate, though she knows differing opinions on vaccines have caused “animosity and frustration” in some friend groups.
Incentives to get the shot
Multiple colleges contacted by the Paste BN Network – none of which has vaccine mandates for students and most of which are in regions with surging cases – said they had not encountered an issue with vaccinated students complaining about unvaccinated roommates, but if they did, they would adjust accordingly.
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At Louisiana State University, residential life staff are not asking students about their vaccination status. But if there's a roommate issue, whether it's personality or the COVID-19 vaccine, "students who wish to change rooms can work with our assignments staff to do so, space permitting," spokesperson Ernie Ballard said. The campus is requiring students to provide proof of vaccination, a negative COVID-19 test or evidence that they've recently had COVID-19.
Some schools, while not requiring the vaccine, are offering students incentives – including $100 in campus cash that can be used at student dining centers – to get the shot. At the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, the housing department is not tracking students' vaccination status. "We cannot guarantee the vaccination status of roommate(s). We are advising students of our expectation that they will be vaccinated,” said spokeswoman Amanda Ennis.
At Roberts Wesleyan College just west of Rochester, New York, “some roommates have selected to room with their friends who are vaccinated. Others have not," said Kristen Brown, interim vice president for student and organizational development. If a student wants to change a rooming assignment, the college will work with both roommates.
The University of Texas at Austin said it would follow “regular protocol” for resolving roommate conflict. At Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, spokeswoman Catherine Williams said: “Housing is not determined by vaccination status.”
To Taylor at the American College Health Association, there’s still time to avoid potential all-out chaos.
“Changing your mind is not a bad thing,” Taylor said. “Let’s repeal this (anti-mask and anti-vaccine mandate) legislation now before we run into a major issue this fall. There’s still time. We know that masks work, that testing works, that vaccination works.
“Let’s swallow our pride and allow colleges to do what they need to do to take care of the public health.”
Contributing: Emily Bloch, Florida Times-Union; Danielle Ivanov, Gainesville Sun; Justin Murphy, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle