By Dylan T. Scoggins
With the current pandemic going on, many people wonder about where they can be safe. Governors and people in congress want the schools to stay open. This leaves Ferrum College and other colleges wondering, is it okay for their students to live on-campus?
Maybe at first it was, but now it seems that may not be the case. In a survey by the New York Times that consisted of 1,600 colleges and universities, 36,000 new cases were reported in the past week (updated Oct. 26). This brings the total up to 88,000 cases.
In a map that tracks the amount of cases that includes more than just the surveyed amount, most of the large groups and worst hotbeds (purple dots) are centered around the east coast and Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky area as well as surrounding states.
Many large colleges and universities like Notre Dame and State University of New York have had to shut down in-person classes or send students home within weeks of opening.
While Ferrum is fortunate to have not run into these problems, they must at least be ready for a similar situation. A second wave is rushing through Europe and has already bared its fangs in the U.S. This can be seen with Franklin County High School having to transition to fully online learning due to the surge of cases in the school.
With these things in mind, it’s not the right time to encourage increased participation in in-person classes and on-campus residence. While this may cost them money in the short term, it will save money if an outbreak does occur.
With the amount of students that are in paired dorms and interacting with others, all it takes is one person not knowing they are sick and the entire college or portions of the campus could become sick.