“COVID-19 Has Gone to College – Or Has It?” Sydney Williams
http://www.swtotd.blogspot.com
A critical component of democracy is education. The perpetuation of our political institutions, as Abraham Lincoln warned in Springfield, Illinois on a January evening in 1838, is not a given. Passion, he warned, can be our enemy. “Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason must furnish all the materials for our future support and defense.” It is to teach one to reason, to think, to calculate that universities exist.
In his 1916 book Democracy and Education, the educational reformer John Dewey argued it is education that allows youth to become productive members of society. Franklin Roosevelt said that “the real safeguard to democracy is education.” It is a sentiment that has been expressed by hundreds of politicians and philosophers over the years. Today, in a risk adverse world, schools, colleges and universities weigh needs of students to learn versus fear of COVID-19 and lawsuits that might ensue. Nevertheless, online learning is no substitute for in-person classrooms.
Most would agree that a failure to open schools and colleges is harmful to students. However, there are some administrators and professors (as well as a few students) who are vulnerable, either because of age or comorbidities, so universities should proceed with caution. There are, however, some who want to keep the pandemic alive for political purposes, a view endorsed by mainstream media. A New York Times article last Sunday was headlined: “A New Front in America’s Pandemic: College Towns.” The article, which focused on the University of Iowa, reported there were “about 100 college communities around the country where infections have spiked in recent weeks as students returned for the fall semester” – a self-evident truth, as students did return to campuses. The article did add that “there has been no uptick in deaths in college communities,” but they failed to mention a subsequent decline in instances. For example, in Iowa City, there was a spike on August 27 and 28 (1,467 and 2,632 cases respectively), but, left unmentioned, by September 1 the number was down to 612 and on September 7 at 408, in line with where it had been before students returned to the campus. The headline was provocative and deceptive.
My wife and I have five grandchildren in college this fall, two sophomores and three freshmen. Their evidence is anecdotal but none the less, interesting. They attend five different universities in four states. The eldest is a sophomore at Bucknell, where their COVID-19 Dashboard reports three active cases, with 17,521 tests having been administered so far. She reported she was “not sure what percentage of classes are in person but all of mine meet in person.” She added: “We haven’t been able to play squash yet but the gym is open so I can go there which is nice.” Our oldest grandson is a sophomore at Brandeis. All students are tested twice a week. For the two weeks ended September 6, 4,417 individuals were tested, with one testing positive. Two students are in isolation. As in all colleges, rules and regulations have been imposed. In an article for his student newspaper, he wrote: “This new regulation remains conscientiously observed to its necessary effect, but only to its necessary effect. The spirit of youth will find a method to express itself…” Youth will be youth! His classes are online and in-person.
Our third grandchild is a freshman at Notre Dame. Shortly after her arrival, a COVID-19 outbreak occurred, allegedly from an off-campus party. She wrote: “COVID definitely has a big presence on campus this year (we had to go online for two weeks because our numbers were so high), but now we are back in person.” 9,416 tests have been administered, with one positive case reported on Monday, which was down from 82 on August 19. The fourth oldest grandchild is a freshman at Wake Forest. According to their COVID-19 Dashboard, there have been forty-one positive cases since August 26 and only three in the last three days. He wrote: “COVID also has a big presence on how Wake operates. Most people only have one in-person class.” The fifth grandchild – she turned 18 yesterday! – is at Elon. She texted: “Elon only has 5 active cases and 78 people in isolation. All of my classes are in-person or hybrid, but the sports season is cancelled.” All five are doing well, as they adjust to a unique 2020 campus life.
As expected, infections rose as colleges and schools re-opened. But, critically, across the country, hospital occupancies declined, as did deaths – the latter peaked in the week ending April 18 at 17,039 and fell to 1,192 for the week ending August 29. (To put that number in perspective, about 55,000 Americans die every week.) As Dr. Scott Atlas, special adviser to the president and member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, wrote this week in The Hill: “We know who is at risk. Only 0.2% of U.S. deaths [from COVID-19] have been people younger than twenty-five, and 80% have been people over sixty-five.” Schools and colleges, exercising caution, should re-open. Michael Barone, in an op-ed in the New York Post on September 7, pointed out that COVID-19 “has been less deadly to those under 65 than flus were.” Who, when in college, did not get sick?
With an election looming, the economy was Mr. Trump’s strongest suit as the year began. Unemployment among minorities was the lowest on record. Wages were rising for those at the low end. The middle class was coming back. The Middle East had quieted. China was being challenged. Then the virus appeared; lockdowns were imposed, schools and colleges were closed, commerce came to a halt. Democrats saw a new opening – vilify the President for his handling of the virus and keep enough of the economy shut down, so Mr. Trump loses what advantage he had. Substitute election day in-person voting with ever-earlier, and less safe guarded, voting by mail. Then, another shoe dropped. Protests and riots followed the killing of George Floyd, a black man, by a white Minneapolis policeman. That led to the resurrection of the Marxist Black Lives Matter group and gave new life to the fascist Antifa organization. Riots occurred in more than a dozen blue-run cities. People were killed, cars were burned, and property was destroyed. Democrats stuck by the rioters, referring to them as peaceful protesters. They called for the defunding of police, no matter the damage they had done to the lives and property of law-abiding citizens.
It was inevitable that COV ID-19 would be politicized. We will leave it to future historians as to whether the lockdowns and school closings were necessary. While we do not have a vaccine for the disease, we know more than we did six months ago – who is vulnerable, who is not, what medicines work, which do not, the value of sanitizing, masks and social distancing. Nevertheless, incredibly, Democrat Vice President candidate, Kamala Harris warned people not to get vaccinated against COVID-19, if one is developed and approved by the CDC and FDA before the election. So, is science to be ignored when it does not fit the narrative?
In answer to the question posed in the title of this essay – yes, COVID-19 has gone to college, a nuisance but not deadly and largely abiding in seclusion. As much as we would like, we cannot live without risk. Colleges should accept what risks exist and open normally. To not do so is to deprive the roughly twenty million college students from opportunities they have earned, and which they deserve.
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