During the 2020 fall semester, NVU conducted 5,396 COVID tests with 11 coming back positive. But that was in the fall, which was a totally different world compared to the current state of the pandemic. Now we are seeing an increase in more contagious strains of the virus, and during our winter break, we saw the deadliest and most contagious period. Yet NVU still does not require mandatory testing throughout the semester except for Day 0 and 7. While the school has made testing more widely accessible by making it available multiple days every week, changed on-campus residence hall visitation policies, and continues to follow Vermont Health Guidelines, we still lack the most important part of preventing the spread: mandating everyone getting weekly tests.
Testing, combined with all other health guidelines is, now, probably the best way of containing the virus if we are to continue to interact with one another on a consistent basis. When we can detect a COVID case sooner, we can contact trace sooner, which means that we can isolate cases before they can spread to others.
NVU has reported four cases so far, one of which was detected during the testing that is mandated for students as they return to campus, another this past weekend, and two through offsite testing. In the email sent out to students by President Collins’ office when the first case was discovered, she stated that “We know as we move through the semester that we will likely have more cases. We prepared for this and we have protocols in place.” So, my question that I pose is why administration has not required that students get tested weekly to utilize our campuses.
I personally have reached out to Dean of Students Jonathan Davis to ask him to implement a testing mandate, but he has so far declined to implement such policies. Dean Davis responded saying that “We exceeded state and federal requirements in the fall and completed the abbreviated fall semester successfully with the continued support of Governor Scott and the Vermont Department of Health. Rest assured that NVU will be encouraging all students to test once per week and that we will make changes to our testing program if Day 0 and 7 testing reveal concerning trends.”
I responded with the recommendation that we should be proactive in changing this testing mandate and not simply wait for concerning trends to emerge. As we have seen throughout this pandemic, when government officials have delayed action on their COVID-19 response, it has led to some of the worst outbreaks that quickly get out of hand. If we were to have a mandated testing policy, we could prevent such outbreaks on our campuses from getting out of control. Instead, Dean Davis told me that “We will be nimble in terms of changes to any safety program as we go through the semester.”
Honestly, I thought that administration would have implemented a testing mandate after seeing that we had 11 positive cases in the fall. Comparatively, Keene State College, which mandates weekly testing, had a .18% positivity rate of the 45,483 tests done over the entire course of the fall semester. Also, keep in mind that Keene State is in the middle of a city, is within 30 minutes of two other states, has a larger campus life including Greek life, and is in a county and state with higher cases. NVU on the other hand had a .20% positivity rate in the fall semester even though demographically NVU should be at an advantage seeing its smaller campus population, lower risk campus activities, is rural, and is in a state and county with far fewer cases.
While administration has expanded COVID policies and testing accessibility, they have not added arguably one of the most important policies, mandated testing. Until that policy is put into place, we need to ensure to get tested weekly. Continue to stay vigilant and push for this policy to be put in place.
Featured Photo by Alexandra Huff || COVID-19 testing periods occur in the Moore Community Room (ASAC 100). For a schedule of testing opportunities at NVU, click here.