Covid worries linger on college campuses as fall semester begins

On college campuses, the return of students for the fall semester coincides with the return of a still-worrisome health threat: the coronavirus.

Some are already reporting cases of infection. Many are encouraging students to get tested if they have covid-19 symptoms and stay current on their vaccinations. Colleges are also reminding students and employees to isolate for five days, following public health recommendations, if they test positive for the virus. Exactly how and where infected students would isolate can be tricky, though, depending on whether schools have enough spare rooms.

Jeff Sheehy, the father of an undergraduate at the University of Maryland, said this week that the student moved briefly from a College Park dormitory to a nearby hotel to isolate after contracting the virus. It was a mild case, Sheehy said, but to him it underscored that colleges and universities must be vigilant and transparent about public health.

“They need to communicate,” Sheehy said. “They need to tell people it’s happening. They need to destigmatize people who end up with covid.”

On Wednesday, the U-Md. health center director, Spyridon S. Marinopoulos, sent a reminder to the 40,000-student campus of covid protocols. Among other things, he pointed out that “masks are a significant defense against the spread of COVID-19 and other respiratory viruses” and that the health center offered rapid tests to those who need them.

Much has changed since the coronavirus pandemic menaced the world and shuttered campuses in early 2020. The pandemic disrupted the next two school years and even posed some challenges during the most recent one. But authorities declared the public health emergency over last spring. Viral testing mandates are a thing of the past. Few in higher education envision another sudden pivot to mask mandates or all-remote classes.

Yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that covid-related hospitalizations and deaths nationwide were trending upward in late August. And evidence of campus infections is emerging.

On Sept. 1, Georgetown University advised its 21,000-student community of an increase in covid cases that appeared “consistent with local and national trends.”

Catholic University, with about 5,000 students, said a small number, as many as 15, have reported testing positive. There are similar reports at 12,900-student Howard University. “We are seeing cases,” said Hugh E. Mighty, the university’s senior vice president for health affairs. “Everybody’s seeing cases. The whole country’s seeing cases.”

At the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which has about 57,000 students, wastewater monitoring has shown a rising number of infections.

“We do know there is a significant amount of covid going around on campus and off campus as well,” said Awais Vaid, director of the university’s student health center. But Vaid said hospitals in the campus area have not experienced a corresponding surge in covid patients, indicating that the threat to the university, for now, appears somewhat modest.

Three years ago the public flagship university in Illinois launched aggressive measures, including a massive saliva-based viral testing initiative, to track and contain infections. Now, covid vaccination requirements have ended, and the school’s case-tracking public dashboard has shut down. Coronavirus testing and face masks are voluntary. Vaid said the university has distributed about 5,000 rapid testing kits free to students, faculty and staff since the semester began.

Some students who are infected go home to isolate, he said. Some stay in single-bed dormitory rooms. Those with roommates can stay in their rooms but wear masks, he said, as much as possible.

On this campus and others around the country, covid fears have receded but not vanished. “It’s not completely faded out of memory,” Vaid said. “People are still concerned.”

So are campus health experts.

“We too have been hearing about covid cases in the community,” said Claudia Trevor-Wright, director of a covid vaccination and mitigation project for the American College Health Association. “It’s much more challenging this year without the extensive surveillance that was happening on the federal level, to assess whether that’s consistent with past years, where we are. We’re in a different boat when it comes to surveillance and understanding what is happening.”

The association surveyed colleges recently and found that 18 percent plan to require some or all of their students to be vaccinated against covid. Eleven percent said they would offer free isolation housing to residential students who are infected, according to the association, and 38 percent said they planned to have infected students stay in rooms with roommates.

Debates have flared recently over masking policies in public elementary and secondary schools in some communities. But that does not appear yet to be the case at the college level. In general, there appears to be little appetite for tighter public health controls on campuses.

A few schools mandated masks. Conservatives hit back hard.

“Most people think that covid is in the rearview mirror,” said Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University. “And of course that’s a mistake.”

McGuire said the 1,850-student university has not noticed significant numbers of cases this semester. But she said she would not surprised if there is an uptick. The university still requires students to be vaccinated against covid. “We have not been as strict or vigorous about the booster shots,” McGuire said.

At Howard, Mighty said the university is watching whether covid cases require medical treatment or hospitalization. So far the signs are encouraging. “We have not seen an uptick in severity,” he said. He said the university has enough beds to isolate infected students.

Many universities are dealing with covid much as they do seasonal illnesses, including the flu, that ebb and flow on campuses. At George Mason University, with about 40,000 students in Northern Virginia, most pandemic-specific measures have ended.

Asked for an update on covid this fall, a GMU spokeswoman wrote: “As of now, we are operating with standard health and wellness support through the student health office, and testing for any/all respiratory illnesses as needed with associated recommendations.”

George Washington University, which has about 26,000 students in the District and Northern Virginia, is taking a similar approach. It has ended coronavirus testing, contact tracing and related measures. It “strongly recommends” but no longer requires covid vaccination. The university said it “will continue to monitor federal and local guidance, research and data, and the incidence of COVID-19 on our campuses to best support the health and safety of our community.”