Mainly because my daughter is scheduled to start school as a Freshman in the fall and will be heartbroken if she doesn't get to go.
I think they will open even if it looks different.
First let's start with an acknowledgement of two things.
First, the risk for these kids is relatively low. The main value is asking them to social distance is community wide suppression and to not transmit it to older or vulnerable folks.
Second, they will not be social distancing no matter where they are. It is just a question of whether they are mingling with new college friends or old high school friends.
With those things acknowledged, it changes the way I look at things. I see no reason to try and keep them apart from one another. It changes the challenge to one of keeping them separate from most of the rest of society. Just think of it as one giant quarantine unit with all of them isolated together.
There will still be enormous efforts to test, trace and isolate. But the main goal will be to keep the virus away from the staff and to faculty. Dormitories can be run with limited young adults. Cafeterias would have a hot zone on the service side and the staff would be working in an isolated space in the kitchen. Class rooms could be for students and grad assistants while faculty joined remotely. Administration could continue to tele-commute.
If something like this were offered to my family right now we would take it in a heart beat. Hell, you could even make it a requirement that the students have to stay on campus once they get there. No weekend visits to grandma or home for the holidays. We would still take it. In many ways, it would be safer than having those same kids out in public everyday bringing the virus home to vulnerable parents and grandparents.
I know it is infinitely more complex than I describe but I think it will happen. And about half of the students will decide to go and the other half will either drop out or do remote. That 50% capacity will make it more manageable and give them more space to distance, separate and isolate.
Go ahead and tell me I'm crazy. I expect to get beat up over this post.
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