COVID-19 quarantine? These colleges say students are on their own after positive tests
At the start of its fall semester, the University of the South tested all its students for the coronavirus and found just 3% were infected. That seemed like a promising start, but the current infection rate is harder to pin down.
That's because the Sewanee, Tennessee, liberal arts college stopped its testing requirements for all students a few weeks into the semester. And rather than requiring students to quarantine or isolate as in the past, the university is letting students make that decision for themselves. The institution does require its students to be vaccinated, with exceptions for medical reasons or "sincerely held religious belief." About 94% of the university's students are vaccinated.
The institution's approach has changed because of the more contagious nature of the delta variant and the widespread availability of vaccines, said Reuben E. Brigety II, president of the university.
“COVID-19 is likely to become endemic; it will not disappear,” Brigety said in a statement. The university declined Paste BN's request for further comment.
Faculty at the university have been pleased with the vaccine requirement, but not much else. Andrea Hatcher, a professor of politics, said a lack of testing makes it difficult to know how widespread the virus might be on campus.
Even among college campuses, the divide across America is widening. A growing number of universities are trying to return to normal operations, eschewing quarantine spaces, coronavirus tests, flexible online classes and remote work for staffers, even as the virus remains an active presence on campuses.
Other universities are taking aggressive stances to reduce case counts on campus. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is requiring unvaccinated undergraduates to get a coronavirus test every other day and says it may require such testing from vaccinated people in areas of campus with high positive test rates. (The college requires a COVID-19 vaccine, with exceptions for medical or religious reasons.)
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At the University of the South, Hatcher says students are missing class and failing to turn in assignments. Some professors are even conducting private Zoom lessons to help students stay on track, she said.
"It's not enough to be told, 'You're unlikely to die, so don't worry about transmission,'" Hatcher said. "Without testing, there is no way of knowing where the virus is on campus, and thus how to take personal responsibility for our health and that of our families."
'Are they going home?'
On one hand, some institutions, like the University of Wisconsin, are still providing housing for those who need to quarantine or isolate. In Madison, those students may have to travel 35 minutes to an off-site hotel, according to an email to students and parents. Students are also responsible for their own food.
On the other hand, some colleges, like the University of Delaware, have some space for students to isolate, though that college encouraged students with positive cases to return home if possible.
It's still too early to know whether one approach is wrong, with the delta variant surging and cooler temperatures on the way, said Gerri Taylor, a co-chair of the American College Health Association’s COVID-19 task force.
But she questioned how universities expected students, many of them still teenagers, to handle isolating themselves on their own.
“Where are they going to do that?” she asked. “Are they going home? Who else are they exposing in that process?”
Recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do not require quarantine if a vaccinated person is exposed to COVID-19. But guidelines do require isolating for a confirmed COVID-19 infection, whether the case is a breakthrough or one in an unvaccinated person.
At Florida State University, officials said they lacked room this semester to provide isolation housing for students who test positive for the virus.
Jonathan Marcus, a senior and member of the student government at Florida State, told the Tallahassee Democrat, part of the Paste BN Network, that the development was “absurd.” He mentioned the university has no vaccine mandate – the state of Florida bars schools from doing so – yet hasn't provided the infrastructure for stopping an outbreak.
Some universities have taken a softer stance by saying they can’t guarantee space for isolation or quarantine housing, without flat-out denying its existence.
Ohio State University, for example, said such housing is limited and “cannot be guaranteed at any time.” Purdue University has said it will help students to make quarantine or isolation arrangements but stressed they should have backup plans. (That university was so short on regular dorm space that earlier this year it converted double bedrooms to quadruples to handle a record class of new students.)
Others, like the University of Albany, have quarantine housing only for students who have already been fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated students living on campus, in contrast, must return home or book a hotel at their own cost.
Proceed at your own risk
The University of Florida stated earlier this year that it would no longer provide on-campus isolation and quarantine housing. University leaders acknowledged unvaccinated students are at risk of catching the virus and spreading it to others.
“UF cannot be responsible for that risk,” the statement read, “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.”
The statement also plainly stated that students in isolation or quarantine would miss classes and that the institution was “unable to offer an online version of every class.”
The lack of online instruction has been a sore point for students at other campuses as well. One student at Coastal Carolina University even created a petition calling on the university to offer virtual classes for all students. The university in its fall guidance had stated students would be unable to pivot from face-to-face courses to virtual courses as they pleased.
Hatcher said faculty at the University of the South, or "Sewanee," as it's colloquially known, also have less flexibility in offering classes online or in person.
That change has been especially problematic for professors with school-age children who may need to be quarantined, or those with immunocompromised family members.
"Vaccination is the only thing that will approximate pre-pandemic conditions," Hatcher said. "But I think administrators have not recognized that we are not at 'normal' yet."