COVID is surging, yet Cal Poly reopens Jan. 4. Here’s what the university should do instead
COVID-19 is surging out of control in California — so much so that doctors and nurses are begging us to stay home. Yet Cal Poly plans to welcome 4,500 students back to campus dorms in early January.
That’s the same number of students who lived on campus in the fall. We saw how well that worked out; according to The Tribune’s Cal Poly dashboard, as of Dec. 21, 888 students had tested positive for COVID-19, which includes students living both on- and off-campus. Many more were required to quarantine because they were exposed to the virus.
We appreciate the university’s efforts to continue its “learn by doing” mission, but right now there’s a disconnect between the awful reality of the pandemic and Cal Poly’s intention to stick to its game plan, in spite of appeals from some faculty members and even from the CSU administration.
The California State University Chancellor’s Office asked CSU campuses to consider delaying the start of classes until late January or even February, to get past this stage that’s left parts of the state with zero capacity in ICU units.
“The current best analysis is that we are in the early stages of an eight-week surge that is anticipated to last through the end of January 2021 — one that has every indication of making our experience last March and over the summer seem diminutive in comparison,” the Dec. 10 letter says.
That’s sobering language, yet Cal Poly is not altering course; it still plans to be back in session on Jan. 4, with thousands of students living on campus and thousands more attending in-person classes.
We don’t mean to scapegoat students — the fact that cases are skyrocketing when most students have returned home for winter break indicates they weren’t driving the surge — but it seems counter-intuitive to bring thousands more people into the community when we’re having difficulty meeting the medical needs of those already here.
‘We have to have more in-person classes’
In an interview with The Tribune, Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong highlighted the differences between Poly and other CSU campuses.
“We’re the only campus on (the quarter system),” he told Tribune reporter Mackenzie Shuman. “We start Jan. 4; we have to have more in-person courses. Most of the other campuses do not start until the second or third week in January. They don’t have as many courses in person. They don’t have as many residential students.”
Cal Poly has been an outlier in that it’s allowed more students to live on campus and held more in-person classes than many other California universities. It’s also experienced more COVID-19 cases; among the 23 CSU campuses, it had the second highest number, second only to San Diego State.
Yet Cal Poly university officials are convinced that with increased testing and other safeguards, it will be able to carry on safely during winter quarter.
Students must be tested prior to returning to campus, and after that, the university will require twice-a-week testing for students living both on- and off-campus. Failure to comply will result in loss of access to online classes, email, Zoom, etc.
Armstrong often points out that plan has been endorsed by a “number of experts,” including both the CSU Chancellor’s Office and San Luis Obispo County Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein.
He also notes that it’s in line with observations made by White House adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci during a recent online meeting with CSU’s top officials.
Fauci told the group that some of the university “success stories” he’s seen required testing of students before they returned to campus, plus follow-up testing. They also designated an isolation area for students who tested positive.
Cal Poly’s plan does include all those components, and it’s better thought-out than last quarter’s, which was more of a work in progress.
But here’s the thing — it depends on cooperation, and that’s been a wild card throughout this pandemic.
We’re not just talking about students.
Many of us failed to follow warnings to avoid Thanksgiving gatherings — and look at the position we’re in now.
There’s every indication that the same thing is happening again; the Transportation Safety Administration has reported approximately 1 million airline travelers per day since Dec. 18, which is similar to numbers seen over Thanksgiving.
Limitations of testing
Another consideration: Testing is not foolproof, which is why medical experts still strongly advise against gathering in groups even if you’ve recently tested negative.
A test is a point-in-time snapshot; someone can test negative one day and become infected the next.
Using tests to determine whether it’s safe to gather “is a very dangerous strategy,” Los Angeles County Health Services Director Dr. Christina Ghaly told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s one that has failed and is a large part of what has led us to the situation that we are in today.”
If it’s not safe to rely on tests to determine whether it’s safe to go to a dinner party for a few hours, doesn’t it stand to reason that it’s not a foolproof way to determine whether it’s safe for thousands of students to return to campus?
After all, the virus doesn’t care if Cal Poly is on the quarter system.
It’s not going to give us a pass because this is a “learn by doing” school that “has to have” more in-person classes.
We hope we’re being overly cautious in worrying about bringing thousands of students back to campus so soon after the holidays.
But it’s hard to be optimistic when the situation is so bleak.
We’re living in a time when families aren’t even allowed to visit their sick and dying relatives in the hospital.
When patients are being treated in hallways and lobbies because hospitals are running out of room.
When the state has stocked up on body bags to handle the increasing number of fatalities.
It’s true that San Luis Obispo County’s situation is less dire than it is in other California regions. But we don’t ever want it to get there, and if we can avoided it by something as simple as delaying the start of the quarter, that seems like an awfully small price to pay.
We respectfully ask Cal Poly to do what the CSU Chancellor’s Office has recommended: Delay the start of the winter quarter — or at least delay the return to campus and stick to online learning only — until we’re past the holiday danger zone.