Is UNC on track to create a second ‘cluster problem?’
The UNC Chapel Hill campus is full of reminders that this semester has been defined by COVID-19 so far. Source.
In early August, UNC welcomed students back to campus, including limited on-campus housing, and, according to the university website’s COVID-19 Dashboard, nearly 60% of classes being held with at least some face-to-face elements. Between August 10th and August 16th, the university saw the percentage of COVID-19 tests returning a positive result rise from 2.8% to 13.6% at Campus Health. On Monday, August 17th, the university announced that it was changing all courses to being exclusively online after only one week. According to the University “COVID dashboard” as of the writing of this article on August 24th, 4 188 students have been tested at Campus Health, 784 total have tested positive for COVID-19, 80 are in isolation due to positive test results, and 122 are in quarantine due to exposure. The fact pattern is alarming, but the conclusion is simple: UNC leaders decided to put the financial interest of the University ahead of the health of the millions of people - many of them North Carolinian - when inviting us back. Now, they are doing it again by urging thousands of students who have been exposed to the virus back to their homes.
The University is now attempting triage for the COVID-19 outbreak by de-densify campus. All undergraduate instruction will be remote until further notice, but the campus remains operational with modified hours. Crucially, current undergraduate on-campus residents are expected to change their living plans for the fall semester. Fall 2020 residence hall cancellation requests have been re-opened with no penalty but residents with specific personal hardships, international students, and student-athletes will have the option to remain on campus.Still, what this means is that thousands of students are potentially headed home.
While sending students home may be in the best interest of the campus community, it may not be in the best interest of the wider Carolina community or the state. Most students who have tested positive at Campus Health will likely experience mild symptoms, as the bulk of undergraduates are of an age cohort in which severe reactions to COVID-19 are less likely, but this may not be the case for the family members to whom students bring the virus home. The risk of severe complications or symptoms of COVID-19 increases with age, with older adults at the highest risk - adults to whom UNC students will be returning if they leave as the University prompts them to. Sending students back to their various homes across the state and country puts at risk a much larger swath of people than just undergraduates in close co-living quarters. Students should continue to be allowed to live on campus at least for the two week incubation period during which they may be carrying the virus yet asymptomatic.
UNC-Chapel Hill received national attention for being one of the first universities to reopen post-pandemic. Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz detailed the University’s reopening plan during an appearance on 60 Minutes, but the rapid outbreak of clusters on campus has quickly turned public interest into public rebuke. The Orange County Health Department recommended a five-week delay in reopening the university for fall 2020, but first-year students who wanted an in-person college experience, parents who demanded it, the Board of Governors who commanded it, and the potential financial crisis that could have been created by a lack of housing and meal contracts led the university to reopen on schedule despite warnings.
The administration may now be incentivized to de-densify campus - despite the potential consequences on communities around the state - to make the university appear safer to outside critics and to show that action is being taken. This situation has put UNC leadership in a double-bind. On one hand, they can choose to keep students on campus, and further devastate the Town of Chapel Hill. Or, they can de-densify and release a host of contagion back to family members with higher risk of complications.
UNC faced an ethical dilemma in deciding whether or not to open campus, with leadership ultimately choosing to put the financial interest of the University over that of public health. It is no surprise that they are continuing this theme by sending potentially infected students home to their friends and family who are at much greater risk for serious health problems than the students themselves.