Thread by @shayshinecastle

Hey, #Boulder, it's city council night, and I've never been more thoroughly exhausted — physically, mentally and emotionally — before starting a meeting.

Which isn't great, bc tonight is likely to be a long and contentious one. We're talking CU's reopening plans, city budget check-in and homelessness strategy.

Read about that last here: boulderbeat.news/2020/07/10/bou…

Also, Twitter's glitchy. So this should be fun!

I'm at least grateful it is not 1,000 degrees outside.

Yates is leading bc this is a study session. Dif council members are going to be leading these moving forward.

CU is up first. Here's the presentation. I don't have much to add bc I didn't get notes ahead of the meeting. www-static.bouldercolorado.gov/docs/(1)_CU_Bo…

I did see, on my quick run through these slides, that CU plans to do its own contract tracing and has trained ppl to do so, including students who will be receive. course credit.

They're also going to do wastewater testing at 20 locations to find COVID more quickly.

80,000 reusable and 100,000 disposable masks have been ordered to provide to faculty, students and staff.

Students living on campus will each receive two cloth masks at move-in. They'll either have to provide proof of a test or be tested prior to move-in.

LOL I forgot that this quote is on the first slide of the presentation, which really sets the tone: “If higher education shrinks to an online screen, it will become less an aspiration, less visible as a symbol, less vital to our democracy. If it shrivels, all society suffers.”

That's supposedly from a student giving input on reopening plans.

Dorm assignments are going to change so that students will be living with those they have classes with already (in the same dept, same major, etc.) to hopefully reduce exposure

Student code of conduct updated to include health ordinances and facial covering policy.

Apparently CU students have already been doing contact tracing, Frances Draper says. They helped during the June surge — as many as 50% of the investigations the county conducted.

Facilities have been designated for isolation and quarantine on campus.

Draper didn't say which ones.

Plexiglass barriers might be installed in offices and classrooms; for example, Draper says, maybe when a student is practicing clarinet and can't keep their mask on.

Everyone who will be on campus has to complete a risk assessment before arriving. Students will have a hold on their account until they've completed this.

A lot of the plans focus specifically on monitoring high-risk ppl.

Will be restrictions on visitors: "Your friend from the next dorm cannot just come visit. Parents can drop you off but they can't come visit," Draper says.

Move-in is being stretched out over a longer time period so there will be fewer ppl at any given time.

A lil more on student code of conduct:
Changes to campus policy and code of conduct:
• Requirement to comply with public health ordinances
• Requirement to wear a face mask in compliance with City orders and campus policy

• Consequences ranging from education/restorative justice to campus exclusions/suspensions

CU and Boulder police will be working with university officials, Draper says.

Slide 14: Apparently campus density will be 45% of what it was pre-COVID.

Staff/faculty will work from home when possible

Draper: "What are we trying to achieve? ... Trying to keep the community safe .... and help keep the state and our community competitive and a bright future for our young people."

Friend asking about students living off-campus: You're reducing on-campus density. Are there fewer students coming back into the community?

Patrick O'Rourke taking that: We're having "close to normal" residency on campus. We're trying to reduce contact to 45% by physical measures, limiting interactions, etc.

"What our epidemiologists are telling us is it's not so much the density .... it's the contacts ppl have outside those environments."

(That was O'Rourke, too).

"Enrollments are fairly normal," he says. There is a drop in international enrollments.

Friend: I'm concerned we're only testing students who are living on campus. It seems likely there will be transmission from students not on campus. Why not test them?

O'Rourke: We're testing ppl coming to live in dorms bc we have control over them. But we're looking at other high-risk places, like fraternities.

"We're not probably going to hit every student that comes" on campus, O'Rourke says. But there are other ways to test and trace.

Friend: I think it would be helpful if we were testing all off-campus students coming in.

Friend: Can students who live off-campus quarantine on campus if, for example, they have multiple roommates?

O'Rourke: Possibly. It will depend on the circumstances.

If we ID a student living in a "riskier" environment, that's someone we'd want to isolate, O'Rourke says, but if they only have one other roommate, probably not.

We'll assess on case-by-case basis.

Brockett: Backups have been an issue in testing. How are you ensuring tests will be processed quickly?
O'Rourke: We've got an arrangement with Quest Labs. And we're doing rapid response tests for screening. "We think we're fairly close" to having that technology.

Brockett also wants testing for *every* student, since many will be coming from states that are hotspots.

"Our citizens would feel better about that," he says. "More safe."

Weaver spent a weekend with Youths, none of whom cared about COVID or wore masks, he says.

"One of the experiences of college is getting to know new people," he says. "There's going to be community spread."

He's aksing about education and monitoring of off-campus students. Particularly asking about house parties, etc. Assuming those can be handled, "What about bars" and other opportunities to gather?

O'Rourke: We've developed COVID modules that every single student has to take before they return to campus.

"We can't treat this as a single moment in time," he says. "We will have to continually" educate and enforce ... "to remind them of the necessity of being able to engage in proper behaviors."

"Not surprisingly, we've found students are more" likely to comply when those behaviors are "modeled by other students rather than coming from administrators."

There will have to be consequences, O'Rourke says.

O'Rourke: "They have more receptive attitudes toward things like social distancing and wearing masks than a lot of other 20- and 30-year-olds do."

I think he ws talking about Student Gov't leaders in particular. Draper says CUSG is planning its own campaign for social distancing/mask wearing, etc.

Weaver: Are you offering hybrid in-person/online classes to reduce the number of ppl on campus?

Yes, O'Rourke says. "We're in a hybrid model. We would be unable to offer a full complement of on-campus courses."

For example: No large lecture classes.

"Every student will have online learning."

"We're going to be very clear this will not be the same experience they would have had a year ago," O'Rourke says.

Wallach: The rapid tests you are developing. If the works, will it be shared with the wider community?
O'Rourke: Yes

Yates: Half of those who've tested positive for COVID are 20-29. Younger ppl don't often understand risk.

Shares that his three nephews in NJ have all been exposed. "Just got a text," Yates says.

"Obviously our education efforts are not working," Yates says, referencing many of the young ppl who don't wear or even carry masks.

Apparently the Boulder Downtown Partnership has ambassadors downtown walking around handing out masks.

Yates suggests the same type of thing with CU students on the Hill

Draper likey.

And that's all for this one. @threadreaderapp please unroll. Thanks!