UPDATE 11/9/20 – Dr. Kelly Damphousse sent out an email Friday invoking the Return to Learn plan, which means that after Thanksgiving Break most classes will be taught virtually.
It seems like every week for the past month, Gov. Asa Hutchinson has held a press conference to update the public on Arkansas’ response to the coronavirus. It seems like every day, I wake up to news that Craighead county has the most cases in the state, or the third most cases in the state, or is in the top five. Despite this, campus is still open, and nothing has changed. Why?
As of production, Arkansas has a total of 114,519 total cases. Over the last 14 days, total cases have risen from 98,961 (Oct. 18), and the CEO of St. Bernards, Chris Barber, said that Northeast Arkansas saw a 112% increase in hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the month of October. On Oct. 28, the White House Coronavirus Task Force said that Craighead and five other NEA counties are in the “red zone” for COVID-19 cases, and recommended rapid tests and isolations. The term “red zone” indicates “101 or more new cases per 100,000 population” according to a state report from Oct. 25.
The state report also says that, “what worked in the summer is not working in the fall with cooler weather,” and recommends a different strategy for reducing transmission that considers “COVID-19 fatigue.”
I can certainly understand COVID-19 fatigue. I often struggle to remember to distance from friends when I get to hang out in groups. Sometimes, when I snack at work, I leave my mask off for a moment longer than I probably should. I definitely am not washing my masks as often as I should, but anyone who has used the laundry room in Northpark Quads will understand my reluctance to do laundry.
Along with my small action, there are times I see people on campus not following COVID-19 rules to the letter. Sometimes multiple people will stand on the same dot in line at Flex locations. But there are also a lot of larger parties and activities going on on campus, and I have to wonder if they’re really a good idea when we’re in a “red zone.”
I do watch the number of cases on campus, which is much smaller than the number of cases in the county (33 to 4,972). I do feel like the parts of campus I see on a regular basis are following the rules. But I also feel a bit nervous at the idea that the cases in the county are growing by the day, and nothing is being said or changed on campus. The last email we students received regarding COVID-19 boiled down to “keep doing what you’re doing,” and that feels like a platitude in the context of what’s going on around us.
I want to make it clear that this is not a callout for A-State’s administration. I understand running a university is stressful, and I understand not wanting to panic the student body by pointing out the spike in cases. But we’re college students in a global pandemic and an election year. We are always going to be panicked. Panic, much like my schoolwork, is something I struggle with daily.
It’s not that I outright want campus to be shut down, either. If it turns out that campus is safer than the rest of the county because we’ve been following social distancing and sanitization rules better than the general public, then of course I’d want to stay. I just think that transparency about the situation is the best policy, and it would comfort me to know that my school’s administration is reviewing the county’s COVID-19 numbers and adjusting campus policy to reflect them. It would definitely matter more to me than just another email saying, “make sure to distance and wash your hands!”
Categories: Opinion
Leave a Reply