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Note of caution: There are absolutely members of the @BYU student community who should receive academic discipline for not following COVID-19 protocols. But pinning the rise in cases all on student bad-actors is wrong, unfair and unhelpful. Here's why:
(1) University students live in incredibly dense housing where they often do not have control over whether an infected roommate spreads SARS-CoV-2 to them. Many (perhaps even most) infected students were trying to be careful.
(2) The lack of arrival testing means that the virus likely started spreading through student populations on August 17th- the day people started checking into the dorms. When everyone else moved in, it was like adding kindling- then full logs- to an already smoldering fire.
(3) Students are subject to the incorrect messages and lack of united leadership that older adults are. They saw Plandemic. They hear people saying masks are a hoax. They watched when @mayorkaufusi vetoed the mask mandate. Why do we expect them to see past it and behave better?
(4) All of the @BYU community knows where to wear masks, disinfect and how to social distance on campus. It's been really clear, focused and well-communicated. But training about what to do when socializing, in housing or off-campus is limited, vague or nonexistent.
(5) Even when they do have good instruction from the university, many students are still getting mixed messages from parents, bishops, friends, and yes- even some @BYU faculty. I'm getting questions all the time about what is true about COVID-19 preventions and what isn't.
(6) The lack of information about positive testing rates on campus gives the false impression that spread is limited. The official case counts are artificially low, probably by a lot.
This isn't a complete list, but they all are good reasons to pause when knee-jerk blaming students. I don't condone bad behavior. Students should be able to understand what's expected of them. My question is, have we really set them up to be successful given their circumstances?
