20 University of Tennessee Knoxville students & 8 faculty members have tested positive for COVID-19

[SheltieLover]

https://www.localmemphis.com/mobile/article/news/health/coronavirus/utk-to-provide-regular-covid-19-updates-amid-rise-in-cases/51-49c4f456-e77d-4d8a-ba31-0577b2a186de

UTK said it is taking several measures to stop the spread of COVID-19, both within the classroom and on campus itself.

Author: WBIR Staff
Published: 1:00 PM CDT August 13, 2020
Updated: 1:41 PM CDT August 13, 2020

On Thursday, UTK announced there were 28 total cases of COVID-19 within the campus community.

Twenty students and 8 faculty members tested positive for COVID-19.

In response, the university announced it will regularly offer updates about the COVID-19 situation within the community for UTK students, faculty, and parents.

More at link. Meanwhile, most schools opening Monday.

[bottomofthehill]

1. well, that did not seem to take too long

Welcome back to school Lets see if they are still on campus come September. Dorms are just giant petri dishes for infection.

[SheltieLover]

2. Ikr?

Likely will not be open long.

[exboyfil]

3. Dorms 85% full

That is where it is going the spread the fastest. At least they are requiring masks in public and increasing the time between class changes (they may want to consider some sort of staggered release).

[SheltieLover]

4. Yup

[genxlib]

5. I'm going to be the odd one here (I often am)

And say that scenario might not too bad.

They are just assembling this week and it is unavoidable that some will come already infected. They have over 20k undergrad students so if that is all they found then they would be lucky. the question I would ask is whether that represents testing everyone coming back, testing a random sample or just testing people who show symptoms. If it is the former then they are in decent shape. If the middle, then they would need to figure out how many that really represents in total. If it the latter, then there would be reason for concern.

The real test will be whether they can drive that number down rather than let it rise.

My daughter is starting at Ohio State. Their protocols are among the strictest I have seen anywhere outside of a medical environment. We shall see if the students can behave but if they do, they have a chance to be successful. The downside is that their experience will be greatly diminished from a real college campus experience.

The University atmosphere is an interesting test case in that it has really wide pros and cons. On the con side, young people are not known to be the most responsible and the living conditions on campus are potentially problematic. But on the plus side, Universities have access to unbelievable resources with built in departments of medicine, biology, nursing, planning, logistics and a staff that is used to dealing with large groups of people. I have been pretty impressed with the way my Daughters school has handled it so far. It has been frustrating at times because things have changed as conditions changed. But all things considered, I have to give them credit. Having said that, I have to be realistic enough to understand that she could be home in a few weeks.