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Hellooo and happy Wednesday, let’s chat about how #UGA is handling COVID on campus - from the perspective of a student in the law school.
First off, classes - the law school started off operating under a hybrid model. Our 60 student section was split in half, and each half alternated days on campus and online, every day, and every other week. Confused? Yeah, same here lol
Essentially this means that half of our students (so 30 students) are in the classroom while the other half Zoom in from a remote location. There are a lotttt of problems with this that I’ll get into at some point later.
We started classes last Tuesday. Last Wednesday, law students received an email notifying us that a member of the law school faculty tested positive. Last Friday, we received the same email - this time about a student.
In both emails, the Dean stated that if we were exposed to the infected individual (meaning being within 6 ft for longer than 15 min), we would be “contacted directly with further instructions.” UGA is working with the GA Dept of Public Health on contact tracing.
Within a few minutes of receiving the email about the infected student, the student themselves sent a message in our student section group chat and let us know that they were the individual who tested positive.
I had interacted with this student when they were last on campus (which was the day they tested positive). They sat right in front of me in all 3 of the in-person classes we had that day, and they also turned around several times to chat with me.
While we were all wearing masks, we were definitely closer than 6 ft of each other, for 3 class periods.
Side note: the social distancing markers in the classroom are … inadequate. Most designated seats are closer than 6 ft, and they are not wiped down between class periods.
Side note: the social distancing markers in the classroom are … inadequate. Most designated seats are closer than 6 ft, and they are not wiped down between class periods.
I received no communication from UGA or DPH about contact tracing to let me know that I had been exposed. The only reason I knew to get tested was because the student themselves contacted us.
So I called the University Health Center to schedule a test. They informed me that they would not test me unless I had “active symptoms.” I told them I had a headache and a cough - they said those “weren’t technically symptoms” and that I’d have to get tested somewhere else.
This next part isn’t about UGA, but about testing in Athens in general. I called 3 different Urgent Care centers in the area. 2 told me they weren’t doing testing. 1 told me their next available appointment was in 7 days. The DPH didn& #39;t have an appt for 4 days.
I tried to schedule a test at CVS, and found an available appointment in 2 days. When I showed up for my appointment, they told me the person conducting testing “couldn’t make it,” and that I’d have to reschedule.
I finally was able to get an appt at UGA’s surveillance testing center on Monday. They were honestly fantastic - super easy to book an appt, and those doing the testing were kind and efficient. I got my negative results in a little over 24 hours.
Since the student tested positive last Friday, most of my professors moved our classes fully online for the week, which I think is the responsible move.
The problem stems from the lack of ANY effective messaging and action from law school administration.
The problem stems from the lack of ANY effective messaging and action from law school administration.
Not once during our 3 day long orientation (and extremely lengthy online portion) was COVID mentioned. One of our sessions was about mental health. The severe negative toll that a pandemic can take on our mental health was never discussed.
Another session was about ethics. We never touched on our ethical responsibility to wear masks, not attend large gatherings, etc. (btw - the student who tested positive went out to bars the prior weekend, and also was planning on hosting a gathering at their house this week).
I also think it’s frankly terrifying that those in the classroom with the student who tested positive were not contacted directly by UGA to notify us that we should get tested.
As far as I know, only 1-2 other students in my section and I are the only ones who got tested due to our potential exposure to this student.
I guess my point is that all of this is just awful. It’s awful that the onus is being placed on students and professors to make decisions about public health while a deadly virus is running rampant.
It sucks that there is little to no communication from admin about the number of cases, and there is absolutely no messaging encouraging students to get tested regularly (bc they want to keep reported numbers down).
Anyway, that’s p much it. I can’t imagine how terrible this all is for undergrads - esp with dealing with housing and dining services. I really sympathize with y’all.
