Opinion: The people behind COVID-19 responses at state universities deserve our deepest gratitude

Marisa Allen
Fri, 29 Jan 2021 00:51:33 +0000
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A face mask required sign posted on a door on campus. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor

As we enter another semester amid the pandemic, I recognize this has been one of the most difficult academic years for our community. We have adapted to wearing masks, staying 6 feet apart and frequently washing our hands. We have overcome the adversity of having classes in a mostly online format. However, it is clear that staying safe and healthy in a college setting requires much more than one person’s actions — it takes a village. Luckily, Ohio State, along with other state universities, has provided students with a plethora of resources to combat the virus on a college campus, a privilege that many students, including myself, have sometimes taken for granted.

This is my first semester at Ohio State, and as a mid-year transfer student, I have seen firsthand the ways two different universities have approached controlling the spread of the virus. Initially, I felt inclined to criticize how each school handled the virus — I thought it was obvious what a college needed to do to keep students safe. They would need to provide regular testing, enforce Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local guidelines, and clean public places regularly. If that was too much to ask, I thought they should have gone completely remote. The areas in their response efforts that were lacking in structure made me frustrated, as the answers were always clear and simple in my head. However, I did not realize how hard the process truly was. COVID-19 response teams at universities across the state have been tirelessly working to keep campuses open and safe while also supporting students during the pandemic.

The coronavirus was new territory for everybody, and there were no guidelines from the state that told universities what to do in response. Additionally, state numbers for the virus appeared to be plateauing at the beginning of last semester, so many universities made decisions regarding the virus based on the information they had at the time. To put it in perspective, according to an update on the state coronavirus website from Aug. 20, 2020, there were 112,003 total cases in Ohio. As of Thursday, there are now 771,743 total cases statewide.?

On our campus, the Safe and Healthy Buckeyes initiative introduced many COVID-safe precautions last semester. According to the website, this included signage in high traffic areas to promote social distancing between students, new cleaning and disinfecting standards for high-touch surfaces and bathrooms, weekly testing for students, diligent contact tracing to monitor exposure and isolation housing for individuals who tested positive for the virus. The university also provided masks, disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer to all students upon arrival in the fall.

Ohio State decided that the first two weeks of the spring semester would be moved to an online format and student move-in would be delayed a week. These measures have aided in keeping students and faculty safe while trying to decrease the number of infections during the recent spike in statewide cases.

Students walk into COVID-19 testing at Jesse Owens North Recreation Center. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Photo Editor

University spokesperson Ben Johnson said in an email? Monday that the university’s plan to combat COVID-19 this semester is based on the success of last semester’s adaptations.

“All of the safety protocols from fall semester remain in place, with enhancements to the testing process including mandatory weekly testing for all students,” Johnson said.

It was quite clear to me that the university is glad to be able to still have students on campus during these trying times and is proud of the plan it has put together to support student health. Johnson further discussed the achievements in Ohio State’s COVID-19 response by reflecting on the declining positivity rate of COVID-19 in students before the return of Buckeye football.?

At the beginning of last September, the student positivity rate reached 6.5 percent and then significantly declined at the end of the month to about 0.8 percent. After the Buckeyes’ first football game in late October, the number of mass off-campus gatherings increased, which reversed the decline in the positivity rate, according to The Lantern’s previous COVID-19 dashboard updates.?

I think one of the best strategies Ohio State has implemented is weekly testing for all students. Testing is a requirement and is incentivized through gaining campus privileges; without participation in testing and a negative test result to show, you will be directed to quarantine in your room, your BuckID access will be revoked and a report to Student Conduct will be made. This testing method is not perfect, but it generally aims to make sure students out and about on campus are not infected. I feel safer visiting places on campus with the knowledge that everyone is getting tested regularly. It allows me to let go of a little bit of the anxiety that COVID-19 has caused.

Universities across the state had to grapple with decisions similar to those at Ohio State. Valerie Simmons-Walston, the associate vice president of student services and main campus planning operations chief at the University of Toledo, a university of more than 22,000 students, said her team went above and beyond in supporting students who were struggling in isolation housing.

“We created a COVID-19 advocate group, the DSA or Division of Student Affairs COVID advocates,” Simmons-Walston said. “One of their specific roles was to contact that student in isolation every single day. By phone, by text, by email or FaceTime, just to check on them and have conversations to see if there’s anything they need.”?

In addition, she discussed how her team put microfridges in every isolation room after students had voiced the need for a place to store their snacks. Simmons-Walston also created a survey for members of her team to gauge their comfort level regarding working in the isolation housing buildings. It was important to her that they not be forced to work where they felt unsafe or exposed. She said these actions were not required of her, but she felt they were necessary. I was overwhelmed by our conversation and her selflessness in protecting and assisting students. It made me realize how lucky we are as students to have educators and administrators, such as Simmons-Walston, who care so deeply for us and our well-being.?

As Buckeyes, we are also lucky that Ohio State is home to one of the best university medical centers. Not every university has been as lucky as us during this pandemic to have the Wexner Medical Center, which provides a wealth of COVID-19 information, testing supplies and research to our community. It was also the first place in the state to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to six frontline workers, according to the medical center’s website. Other universities in the state, even those with a medical campus, do not have the same access that we have through the network of the Wexner Medical Center. This is something to keep in mind when criticizing their COVID-19 responses.

Another important consideration when analyzing how other universities have handled the coronavirus is that supplies, testing, funding and scientific information were sometimes inaccessible or unavailable, which made coming up with a COVID-19 plan at the beginning of the year much more difficult.?

There is no denying that one of the biggest deficits in COVID-19 response by universities in the fall was the inability to offer regular testing to their students. However, it is unfair to place the blame on them. I believe it was the responsibility of the state and the governor’s office to outline specific guidelines and testing practices for universities to implement in order to have a coordinated and uniform coronavirus response. The reality was the opposite — universities had to do it all on their own.

Students wait in line in August to get tested before moving into on-campus residence halls. Credit: Ben Blavat | Lantern Reporter

Federal and state funding to help these universities battle the virus has been disorderly and lacking, which is one reason testing practices have been varied across Ohio. According to a Columbus Dispatch article published in September, Ohio State spends $2 million a week on testing students, which goes to show just how necessary funding is. The original CARES Act, signed into law in March 2020, only provided $30 billion for elementary schools, high schools and colleges combined. In April, The Lantern reported that Ohio State received $42 million in federal funding from the original CARES Act. The second round of relief through the CARES Act was signed in December, originally allotting $22.7 billion specifically for higher education COVID-relief funding, according to the U.S. Department of Education website. On Jan. 14, the website was updated stating an additional $21.2 billion would be available to institutions of higher education. Hopefully, moving forward, this funding will allow every university to provide regular testing to their students.

Because testing was not administered or required on many prominent campuses in the state, the COVID-19 dashboards that show testing data from those universities cannot reflect the true number of positive cases. Many schools, such as the University of Cincinnati and the University of Toledo, randomly selected students to participate in asymptomatic testing, but it was not required for a large chunk of last semester. Only symptomatic students were guaranteed a test. This caused severe underrepresentation of positive cases on college campuses. According to an NPR article published on Oct. 6, many schools chose to use this method “…which many experts say comes too late to control outbreaks and understates the true number of cases.”

At the end of last semester, the University of Toledo reported about 770 positive tests since Aug. 17, 2020, or approximately 4 percent of their total student population. It was one of the universities that were only testing a limited number of students during the fall semester, meaning these numbers significantly downplay the true number of COVID-19 cases on its campus.

After speaking with Simmons-Walston, I understood that no one truly knew or could have known what was necessary to combat the virus at the beginning of the academic year. Some of the things I originally criticized state universities for, such as not implementing regular testing for all students, seemed ignorant of me; I did not realize how much had to be decided in such a small amount of time and how scarce the resources were.?

“COVID-19 forced myself and team members to create a whole different section to our current job description that was urgent, life-changing and something that we had to do right away,” Simmons-Walston said.

The University of Cincinnati and the University of Toledo will both begin to require weekly testing during the spring semester as the rate of infection in the state grows to alarming numbers and greater funding is finally distributed to universities in the state.

A physical distancing sign pasted on a sidewalk near Mirror Lake. Credit: Max Garrison | Assistant Campus Editor

COVID-19 testing at many other universities in the fall was less available to students and was not always required or provided by the universities themselves. I wish more universities would have considered going completely remote last semester, like Ohio University, which I think did an excellent job in their COVID-19 response last semester. It had a stronger response to COVID-19 than most in the state, as most of their students were not permitted to live on campus or attend their classes in person last semester. I applaud them for going to those lengths to protect their students, but it significantly impacted the university financially. I understand that going remote would have caused most universities to lose a lot of money, but I think it would have been the safest way to conduct the semester if they could not provide weekly testing for all students.?

I think the state could have done a much better job of supporting universities and their students through the pandemic by implementing a coordinated plan. With help from the state, I think more could have been accomplished uniformly to help slow the spread on college campuses. That said, I truly believe the COVID-19 response organizers and task forces at all the higher education schools in Ohio deserve our deepest and most heartfelt gratitude for all they have sacrificed to support us. They did it without question, without much guidance, and without a thought for themselves. To those who have done so much to ensure our safe return to campus I say with all of my heart, thank you.

These are confusing times, and universities have suffered greatly as a consequence of this pandemic. As students, we are privileged to have the safety rules outlined for us, and we must follow them to protect others from COVID-19. Please continue to wear your masks, get tested weekly, social distance and put the community above yourself.

Ohio State’s rhetoric surrounding the virus and its efforts to keep the community safe have been strong and thorough. The Safe and Healthy Buckeyes initiative is not perfect, but I feel lucky to be a part of a community that has come together to safeguard access to our beautiful campus, our education and the opportunities both have to offer. Moving forward, I trust we have the ability to continue adapting together as Buckeyes.