(Headline USA) Facing rising infections and a new COVID-19 variant, colleges across the U.S. are once again starting to require booster shots, extend mask mandates, limit social gatherings and, in some cases, revert to online classes.
But the panic pandemic may be worse than the risk of the virus itself, triggering déjà vu after colleges last year became an early bellwether for other lockdown-happy institutions to follow.
Leading the way was Ivy League Cornell University, which went on high alert, according to the New York Times, after detecting evidence of the newly emerging omicron variant.
Cornell University moved finals exams to an online format, closed libraries and gyms, barred visitors from campus and took other restrictive measures after the school’s Covid testing lab found evidence of the Omicron variant in a number of students’ tests. https://t.co/sgKmhbwULN
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 14, 2021
Cornell University shut down all campus activities on Tuesday and moved final exams online after more than 400 students tested positive over two days.
In a campus message, President Martha Pollack said there was evidence of the omicron variant in a “significant” number of samples.
“It is obviously extremely dispiriting to have to take these steps,” Pollack wrote. “However, since the start of the pandemic, our commitment has been to follow the science and do all we can to protect the health of our faculty, staff and students.”
The school’s overreaction had many skeptics questioning the response to the omicron outbreak, a strain that medical researchers have characterized as “extremely mild” and flu-like, particularly in healthy and robust college populations.
Even among the elderly (ages 65 and older), only about one in 100 US cases (1%) has resulted in mortality, the Times reported recently.
For those youger than 65, it noted, the mortality rate “is closer to 1 in 1,400” (0.07%).
The diminishing menace of the virus could be good news, suggesting that it is evolving overall into a less deadly form, and that the overall population may be coming closer to attaining herd immunity.
Some further noted that Cornell’s relative spike seemed trivial when considering its entire student body.
Uhhhhhh…@Cornell #twithaca pic.twitter.com/TP7QPUi7yU
— Megan Barkdull (@meganbarkdull_) December 13, 2021
Others pointed out that the university already was exercising an overabundance of caution prior to the “rapid increase” it saw in December.
CNN reported on the outbreak, but fails to mention that Cornell University has a 97% vaccination rate on our campus, mandatory masking, and weekly testing. @Techno_Fog @JackPosobiec @claudiatenney https://t.co/RylxnI8T3o
— Joe Silverstein (@SilversteinUSA) December 15, 2021
The hysteria surrounding the omicron variant comes as a gut punch to students who were hoping for relaxed safety measures this spring.
Now, many are preparing for another term of masking, testing and, if cases get bad, limits around social life.
Hundreds of colleges already require COVID-19 vaccines. Now, more than 20 have issued booster shot requirements, and others say they’re thinking about it.
Last week, Syracuse University announced that all eligible students and employees must get COVID-19 booster shots before the spring term. Students will also face a round of virus tests when they return, and officials are weighing whether to extend an existing mask mandate.
After a fall with few coronavirus cases, officials at Syracuse were “feeling pretty good” about the spring term, said Kent Syverud, the upstate New York school’s chancellor.
“But omicron has changed that,” Syverud said. “It has made us go back and say, until we know more about this variant for sure, we’re going to have to reinstate some precautions.”
Most booster mandates so far have come from small liberal arts colleges in the Northeast, but the list includes some as big as Boston University and as far away as the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and the University of New Mexico.
The University of Massachusetts in Amherst was among the first to require the booster for students, saying all students must get shots unless they have medical or religious exemptions.
“The boosters are our best protection,” said Jeffrey Hescock, co-director of the university’s Public Health Promotion Center. “This demonstrates that we take public health seriously, and our students do too.”
A recent online petition arguing against the booster mandate—citing 97% of students vaccinated and few on-campus cases—has attracted a few dozen signatures.
But Emily O’Brien, a freshman at UMass, said the booster shot is a reasonable demand. She was already planning on getting a booster but said the mandate will probably increase uptake among students and prevent future lockdowns.
“If the past six months have shown anything, it’s that lots of people won’t bother to get vaccines—especially younger healthy people—if they don’t have a requirement to,” said O’Brien, 18, of Bedford, New Hampshire.
UMass will also require masks at the start of spring term, and it’s sending students home with a rapid test to be taken near the end of winter break.
After initial outbreaks, some, like Cornell, are already discussing the likelihood of online class and other restrictions on in-person activities.
Middlebury College in Vermont switched to remote instruction last week amid a surge in cases and urged students to leave early for winter break. Rising cases at the University of Pennsylvania led to a ban on indoor social events last Thursday.
On Friday, Tulane University in New Orleans warned that a campus spike includes “probable” cases of the omicron variant, confirmed in at least one student last week. In response, school officials reinstated a mask mandate and expanded virus testing.
Other colleges that have extended mask requirements into next year include Wake Forest University, West Virginia University and Penn State.
Some other schools are already postponing the return to campus next month to avoid outbreaks. Southern New Hampshire University and DePaul University in Chicago recently said students will take classes remotely for two weeks before returning to campus after the holidays.
In a letter to students, DePaul’s president, A. Gabriel Esteban, said the school will “cautiously start winter quarter so we can sustain a robust college experience the remainder of the academic year.”
When students at Stanford University return to campus in January, they will be barred from holding parties or other big gatherings for two weeks. They’ll also be tested once a week and continue to wear masks indoors as requirements to attend in-person classes. The measures aim to limit virus transmission without going too far in limiting the college experience, said Russell Furr, associate vice provost for environmental health and safety.
“This is something we’ve grappled with throughout the pandemic—how do we get a balanced approach?” Furr said. The goal is to avoid the strict lockdowns seen early in the pandemic, when student mental health “really suffered,” he added.
However, evidence suggests the omicron variant is more resistant to the current vaccines, meaning that outbreaks may be inevitable, despite the reduced threat from omicron.
At some colleges, there’s still cautious hope for a normal semester. Leaders at the University of Central Florida told professors they can require in-person attendance in the spring, which had been discouraged this fall amid a surge in delta cases.
In a campus message, interim provost Michael D. Johnson warned that if the omicron variant takes off, “we may need to change direction yet again.”
Another concern is omicron’s timing—even without a new variant, there were worries of more outbreaks as colder weather drives people indoors, said Anita Barkin, co-chair of a COVID-19 task force for the American College Health Association.
The association recently recommended that colleges focus on increasing vaccination rates to avoid a new wave of cases.
“The message in all of it is, we need to remain vigilant,” Barkin said. “There is certainly pandemic fatigue and people are tired of the pandemic—but it appears that the pandemic is not quite tired of us.”
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
