GA colleges added new COVID precautions as students returned. How are they working?

The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly ended in-person classes for Georgia universities last spring, sending students home and spurring colleges to lean into often hastily assembled virtual programs.

In January, as students prepared to return, universities had a better idea of what to expect and were armed with data from the fall on how best to limit the spread of the coronavirus among faculty, staff and students. Middle Georgia universities and colleges have relied on expanded testing programs, improved communication systems and student leaders to minimize the coronavirus’ impact on students and staff.

What have universities learned?

Before Mercer students returned to class on Jan. 7, the university required them to take a COVID-19 test. And, in one of the most significant changes to its coronavirus policy, Mercer made random testing mandatory for students, faculty and staff to help the university gauge the spread of the disease on campus.

Mercer University Senior Vice President Larry Brumley said the goal is to identify those students who are potentially transmitting the coronavirus unknowingly.

“We’re going to be doing more testing in the spring than we did in the fall.,” he said. “We feel like that’s a refinement that will be helpful right now, when cases across the state are running high.”

Mercer houses students who test positive for COVID-19 in hotel rooms until their quarantine period is over. Brumley said the system workes well and Mercer never got close to using all of the isolation housing set aside for students. Some students pushed back against quarantine after testing positive despite having no symptoms, but Brumley said the students have done a good job of minimizing the COVID-19 spread.

“Credit goes to our students and our faculty staff and their vigilance, and they’ve been great about wearing their masks and in social distancing,” Bhe said. “We have not seen any evidence so far that the virus is getting transmitted in classrooms, in laboratories. To the extent we have cases, we believe that they’re coming from interactions outside of classrooms and laboratories.”

Mercer eliminated spring break, opting instead to allow students a series of Wednesdays off, in an effort to deter students from traveling.

“The Mercer community has been fantastic about adapting and following these protocols and procedures and really looking out for one another,” Brumley said. “I think that’s one of the hallmarks of Mercer. It’s a relatively small, caring community. I think that works to our advantage in navigating this.”

Mercer processes PCR coronavirus tests in its medical school, returning results within 24 hours. The university hopes to receive approval to distribute a vaccine soon to not only students, faculty and staff, but also the general public.

“There just aren’t that many universities of our size that have a medical school on campus that has the kind of expertise we have in infectious diseases to guide us through this,” Brumley said.

Mercer administered 1,434 tests across all of its campuses between Jan. 22-28, and 38 people tested positive, including 22 in Macon.

“It’s a seven-day a week job”

Tara Underwood, dean of the Middle Georgia State University School of Health and Natural Sciences, has been one of the lead coordinators on the university’s response to COVID-19 across all five campuses.

When the pandemic began the university set up a COVID-19 task force to help better respond to issues associated with the virus. A portal was set up for students and employees to submit various issues like disinfecting a classroom or an office space or to report a positive case.

Underwood and her team then reach out to the student or employee to try and figure out where or how they may have been exposed to the virus. The end result is a “well-oiled machine,” that is working across all levels of the university. But that “machine” takes a “Herculean effort” communicating to make it work, Underwood said.

“This is a seven-day a week job. Sometimes we’re notified of a positive case on a Saturday or Sunday, we are able to respond accordingly,” she said. “I think overall we’re doing as best as we can to make sure that everyone knows what is required during this unprecedented time.”

Middle Georgia State University reported 30 student cases and five employee cases between Jan. 19-24. The university has reported 313 student cases and 67 employee cases across all of its campus since the start of the pandemic.

How students are navigating the pandemic?

Emma Ellis, a junior at the University of Georgia, is a part of an advisory board working with the student health center to help educate students about COVID-19. The board is working to address common misconceptions about the coronavirus.

“We realized there were a lot of questions on quarantining and If you’re asymptomatic, you may feel like you don’t have to,” Ellis said. “That’s why they’ve been developing all this training to try to address that.”

Ellis, like many students around the country, recognizes that her college experience has been anything but normal since the pandemic began. Ellis said that UGA has done a good job of trying to give students a traditional college experience while also keeping everyone safe. It’s a delicate balance that universities are trying to strike..

“You come to learn, but also to meet new people and professors. Figuring out how to translate all of that to an online social environment is definitely a challenge,” Ellis said “They’re trying to create environments where you could meet people safely rather than just sitting down and watching a lecture.”

The university supplied each student with a pair of masks and had additional ones available at the start of the spring semester. UGA also set up hand sanitizing stations and provided COVID0-19 testing opportunities. Ellis said that the university is already working toward a plan to distribute vaccines.

Of course, a traditional college experience extends outside the classroom: making friends, attending concerts, visiting bars and clubs, spring break trips and more. Ellis said pursuing this normal experience while limiting COVID-19 risk is also a balance students are trying to find. Students are largely united, she noted, despite debates over the effectiveness of masks and social distancing.

UGA reported 190 positive cases for the week of Jan. 18-24 and reported 267 positive cases for the week of Jan. 11-17.

This story was originally published February 1, 2021 at 2:48 PM.