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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Jun 23, 2020 7:20:31 GMT -5
HC has already signaled that move-in day will be staggered. Based on the expectation that all students will be tested before start of classes, it would be logical to have the testing done well in advance of the day that classes commence. That way, any student who tests positive can be isolated, and quarantines of contacts are limited. The rationale for ending the on-campus portion of the fall semester by Thanksgiving is that a percentage of returning students would be infected and the isolation / quarantine protocols that would come into force in response would be disruptive to on-campus completion of classes. I wasn't thinking HC would have a one-time all-student round of involuntary testing. (It is true that would identify the student who tests positive the precise instant the test is administered and the student could be isolated).) My assumption was that the non-athlete (I think athletes might have some sort of test at first) would report symptoms as they develop throughout the semester and be administered a test as necessary. With Covid-19 protocols - including treatment for symptoms and quarantine - ensuing upon a positive. (Since the symptoms are identical to seasonal flu I imagine they also might get a flu virus test if the Covid-19 virus test is negative...and if positive for the flu virus given treatment for symptoms and told to self-quarantine.) I think (90 percent certain) all students will be tested as they arrive on campus. Exceptions may be a student who was tested a day or two before by a reputable third party. I also think (85 percent certain) that all students will be tested periodically during the semester. Dr. Boucher, see below, strongly hinted that much of the testing will be batch testing (100 individuals at a time) and I suspect probably mouth swabs or spit. (Spit is preferred because nasal swabs require personal protective gear.to administer.) The college's protocols are heavily influenced by this alumna, who is on the BoT, and who spoke for the majority of the time at the webinar for parents and students. www.tuftsmedicalcenter.org/physiciandirectory/helen-boucherand this alumnus, who was formerly on the BoT, and who spoke at the webinar for faculty and staff the day before the webinar for parents and students. www.umassmed.edu/chancellor/chancellor-collins/about/Its quite likely that there was communications between the college and another distinguished alumnus in this regard. To my knowledge, he is only formally advising on the re-opening of the District of Columbia. A big issue in MA and the governor's task force on re-opening higher ed, is the ability to test on college campuses. Gov. Baker wants the state to be doing 45,000 tests a day by the end of July, and IIRC, even higher rates later. That can only be achieved with batch testing. Which is what Wuhan did: 11 million people tested over two weeks, and 300 positive cases. Some here overlook that the Commonwealth is calling some of the shots on how and when colleges and universities re-open.
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Post by Sons of Vaval on Jun 23, 2020 7:42:46 GMT -5
Students in their teens and early twenties (especially healthy D1 athletes) are the least likely to experience significant effects from COVID-19, yet they are being treated like they are elderly in nursing homes. +10000
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Post by hcpride on Jun 23, 2020 7:58:04 GMT -5
/\ /\ There may be some statements/guidelines put out to reassure the panicky sorts, publicly grapple with the prevailing narrative, and for general public consumption...the colleges themselves know the data and science regarding college age kids and Covid-19.
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Post by timholycross on Jun 23, 2020 8:25:21 GMT -5
/\ /\ There may be some statements/guidelines put out to reassure the panicky sorts, publicly grapple with the prevailing narrative, and for general public consumption...the colleges themselves know the data and science regarding college age kids and Covid-19. What is the six week regulation that the article talks about? Again, I hope I'm missing something because that gets us to October.
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Post by richh on Jun 23, 2020 8:46:17 GMT -5
Students in their teens and early twenties (especially healthy D1 athletes) are the least likely to experience significant effects from COVID-19, yet they are being treated like they are elderly in nursing homes. +10000 That misses the point. Student risk is minimal but the issue is less their health than their ability to spread the virus not only among themselves but to the community surrounding the College.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 23, 2020 9:12:13 GMT -5
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Post by richh on Jun 23, 2020 9:22:32 GMT -5
A flu concern? Both are flus. Seasonal flu has vaccines. Both transmit in similar fashion but COVID has proven to be more contagious and certainly more dangerous.Note PL mandates that opponents' schools must have similar provisions in force. Spread can go either way to or from your team.
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Post by hchoops on Jun 23, 2020 9:24:13 GMT -5
But as has been said by every epidemiologist, Covid is far more serious than the flu for older people and and those with pre existing conditions, such as athletes with asthma.
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Post by hcpride on Jun 23, 2020 9:41:42 GMT -5
A flu concern? Both are flus. Seasonal flu has vaccines. Both transmit in similar fashion but COVID has proven to be more contagious and certainly more dangerous.Note PL mandates that opponents' schools must have similar provisions in force. Spread can go either way to or from your team. Both are viruses, they are not both flus. Beyond that, the flu vaccine doesn’t always match and it is not mandatory. Similar symptoms and similar modes of transmission. Seasonal Flu can kill 60K in the US a bad year...granted they are mostly from the vulnerable populations (over 65 and in nursing homes) but it can be spread from younger college kids. So if the concern of the new protocols is the spread of a deadly disease to a more vulnerable population ...
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Jun 23, 2020 10:07:43 GMT -5
Let's splatter some complexity onto the portrait being drawn of COVID-19 being a largely benign course for youth. [In the excerpt below, GGOs are ground glass opacities that appear on imaging of the lungs.] www.astro.org/ASTRO/media/ASTRO/Daily%20Practice/PDFs/COVID-Youssef(ADRO).pdfSo what happens with an asymptomatic, COVID infected college student, who remains asymptomatic but has ground glass opacities in his/her lungs, and becomes infected with run-of-the-mill influenza? Is the flu likely to be more severe than it would otherwise have been if the student had no pre-existing ground glass opacities? much more severe? no different? (The clinical course will not be less severe because GGOs represent an inflammation of the lung. ]
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Post by richh on Jun 23, 2020 10:28:04 GMT -5
A flu concern? Both are flus. Seasonal flu has vaccines. Both transmit in similar fashion but COVID has proven to be more contagious and certainly more dangerous.Note PL mandates that opponents' schools must have similar provisions in force. Spread can go either way to or from your team. Both are viruses, they are not both flus. Beyond that, the flu vaccine doesn’t always match and it is not mandatory. Similar symptoms and similar modes of transmission. Seasonal Flu can kill 60K in the US a bad year...granted they are mostly from the vulnerable populations (over 65 and in nursing homes) but it can be spread from younger college kids. So if the concern of the new protocols is the spread of a deadly disease to a more vulnerable population ... Some colleges are already mandating flu vaccines for students.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Jun 23, 2020 12:39:19 GMT -5
At a House Committee hearing today, with Drs. Fauci, Hahn, Redfield, and Giroir (who is also an admiral) appearing as witnesses, it was quite clear from the testimony that there is much concern about the seasonal flu outbreak coinciding with COVID-19, and individuals being concurrently sick with both, exacerbating the affects of either virus. In fact, they are rushing development of an antigen test to simultaneously detect the presence of an influenza virus and the COVID virus.
I have already reserved a slot to receive the influenza vaccine, date is probably August / September.
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Post by richh on Jun 23, 2020 15:51:33 GMT -5
At a House Committee hearing today, with Drs. Fauci, Hahn, Redfield, and Giroir (who is also an admiral) appearing as witnesses, it was quite clear from the testimony that there is much concern about the seasonal flu outbreak coinciding with COVID-19, and individuals being concurrently sick with both, exacerbating the affects of either virus. In fact, they are rushing development of an antigen test to simultaneously detect the presence of an influenza virus and the COVID virus. I have already reserved a slot to receive the influenza vaccine, date is probably August / September. CVS is starting in late August. Made my apptmemt.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Jun 23, 2020 19:05:39 GMT -5
Some airports aren't safe. This is TSA's list of TSA agents who have tested positive by airport and provides date of last infection. 731 agents have so far tested positive. Putting aside the early infections when protective gear was in short supply, i find it a bit disconcerting that positive cases continue to increase by 30-40 every week. www.tsa.gov/coronavirus#:~:text=TSA%20Confirmed%20COVID%2D19%20Cases,a%20result%20of%20the%20virus.&text=It%20does%20not%20include%20non,limited%20interaction%20with%20the%20public. clicking on the bold part of the link will get you to the TSA table.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jun 23, 2020 19:51:43 GMT -5
That misses the point. Student risk is minimal but the issue is less their health than their ability to spread the virus not only among themselves but to the community surrounding the College. Everyone keeps talking about the need for "bubbles" when it comes to the possibility of professional sports returning. COLLEGES LITERALLY ARE A BUBBLE. Especially a liberal arts college like Holy Cross or basically any Patriot League school in the middle of nowhere. Would it be a better idea to have students back home potentially infecting elderly or vulnerable family members? Worcester is a city of several hundred thousand people. Is the community really at that much more incremental risk because 3,000 students come into the city, live in a self-sufficient academy and occasionally go to WalMart or Wendy's?
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Post by A Clock Tower Purple on Jun 23, 2020 20:19:31 GMT -5
There's 180K people in Worc. Not "several hundred thousand".
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Post by joe on Jun 23, 2020 20:43:41 GMT -5
We should play Georgetown somewhere in NY or NJ.
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Post by purplehaze on Jun 23, 2020 20:44:24 GMT -5
Students must sign a covenant which will be strictly enforced - I can see the campus basically being locked unless there’s a very good reason to leave
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Post by hchoops on Jun 23, 2020 20:50:41 GMT -5
Memories of the mid 60s
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Post by longsuffering on Jun 23, 2020 23:15:46 GMT -5
Is there any concern for 300+ pound linemen? Obesity is a leading co-morbidity.
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Post by KY Crusader 75 on Jun 23, 2020 23:24:03 GMT -5
Is there any concern for 300+ pound linemen? Obesity is a leading co-morbidity. Those 300 pounders not be obese when they're 6-4, 6-5, 6-8 and got a lot of that weight building muscle in the weight room.
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Post by hc87 on Jun 23, 2020 23:26:30 GMT -5
With the continued outbreak of covid-19, I really don't think we are seeing any pro or college team sports for the rest of 2020.
There are just too many variables, contingencies etc....nearly impossible to do this logistically if were being honest with ourselves.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jun 24, 2020 6:00:56 GMT -5
Students must sign a covenant which will be strictly enforced - I can see the campus basically being locked unless there’s a very good reason to leave I doubt the college will restrict students from leaving campus. I do think there will be official rules that limit or ban overnight visitors. This would be almost un-enforceable but they'll put something in the books. I had high school friends visit me probably a dozen times while at HC and probably never did I properly log them in at the Linden Lane booth. One thing the college COULD do is have a system like PC where visitors have to be logged in and out in the individual dorms, meaning someone sits at a check-in table in the front vestibule. Providence used this system to curb students from staying in opposite sex dorms past a certain hour. (Is it even PC -- pun intended -- to have single-sex dorms anymore?) While our dorms are all co-ed, you could still have someone at a makeshift desk check everyone's HC ID as they come in and out of dorms. Non-students would have to sign in under their host and if they don't sign out by a certain time, there will be a knock on the door. A pretty big investment just to prevent overnight student guests, but they could do that.
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Post by nycrusader2010 on Jun 24, 2020 6:08:08 GMT -5
With the continued outbreak of covid-19, I really don't think we are seeing any pro or college team sports for the rest of 2020. There are just too many variables, contingencies etc....nearly impossible to do this logistically if were being honest with ourselves. I hope your wrong but I'm starting to see the tide turn with certain states headed in the wrong direction in terms of hospitalizations. Unfortunately, we're not out of this as a nation and large gatherings will probably have to be put on hold until maybe a few months into 2021. I do think that a season with no fans across the board could and should be an option. As has been stated, college athletes are among the least at risk. There are some coaches and staff, however, who would be at higher risk. Same goes for students on campus -- you have some professors and staff that may face increase risk, as well as some students with pre-existing conditions. Some of these individuals are going to have to make tough choices. I imagine the college will make remote learning at least AN OPTION for those not comfortable returning to campus.
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Post by Pakachoag Phreek on Jun 24, 2020 10:49:34 GMT -5
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