THREAD: Keeping COVID-19 patients in quarantine is supposed to prevent it from spreading, but @Mizzou students who test positive have a tough decision on where to quarantine. Many of the options could include putting others at risk, even as other schools have a working plan. 1/12

MU Chancellor Mun Choi said Friday that isolation housing is available. 60 rooms, and contracts with hotels if needed. But even with 306 active cases at that time, he said only 5 of those rooms were being used. We learned that’s because they’re only available to ResLife students.

In an email to a COVID-19 positive off-campus student Friday, a university CARE Team member said most students decide to head home. With vulnerable grandparents at home, the remaining options were to quarantine in her shared apartment or book a hotel room for two weeks.

MU hasn’t said what hotels it’s contracted with, but I called 10 Columbia hotels, including three within walking distance from campus. All 10 said they wouldn’t allow COVID-19 patients to stay, even if the student's budget allowed it.

The student we talked to, identity withheld to protect her privacy, is now quarantining in her apartment. She’s wearing a mask when she needs to go into common areas, and sanitizing everything, but her roommates have not self-quarantined.

Choi also said Friday no positive students are living with other students. We’ve reached out to the university to clarify that comment but haven’t heard back. He may have been only referencing the 7,700 on-campus; but that leaves out the 24,000 without a ResLife contract.

I had an interview set-up with another off-campus MU student who tested positive...after his already positive roommate quarantined in their apartment. We cancelled our Zoom call after he went to the hospital with worsening symptoms.

He’s since been discharged, but that’s the complicated nature of the virus: It affects everyone differently and young people aren’t immune. A 21-year-old can get it and be asymptomatic but evidence has shown someone their same age (even their roommate) could have long-term damage

Unfortunately, this matters because we’ve seen a different mentality with a lot of students. Some still go out after their roommate tests positive: they don’t self-quarantine. But offering options for their roommate to completely isolate could mitigate risk of spread.

In pursuit of this story, another student told me she moved home because her sorority house had 12+ cases and 4 quarantine beds...so some positive cases didn’t report or quarantine to avoid going home. Others still feel a stigma with being a burden in quarantining with roommates.

Housing off-campus students isn’t unheard of. Missouri State did it, and now they’re leasing an entire hotel. They’re also doing random testing while @Mizzou required nobody to be tested an isn't releasing total testing data: https://www.ky3.com/2020/08/31/missouri-state-university-not-surprised-by-recent-spike-in-covid-19-cases-using-hotel-to-isolate-students/

It’s reasonable to not expect as much support when students choose to live off-campus. The biggest frustration point from the students we talked to though seems like confusion on a mixed message and a feeling like they lack support from the Mizzou they loved since day one. 12/12