Thread. About @NotreDame handling of the #COVID19 situation so far. I know it's too early to give a final verdict and challenges lie ahead (football games) but I think the administration has done a phenomenal job (contrary to what I know many faculty believe). And here is why.
The basic premise has always been to give students when possible an in-person experience. And now it seems to be working.
What were the elements to achieve this?
What were the elements to achieve this?
1) Distancing, mask wearing in rooms, basic separation wherever possible between students (less vulnerable) and the more vulnerable faculty and staff. Including giving faculty who have medical pre-conditions the permission to teach online.
2) At the same time: there was never a sense that they wanted to let it just run its course in the undergraduate population to achieve something like herd immunity there. Our undergraduate population is big enough so that by the law of large numbers you might end up causing sth
catastrophic (and, yes, even one death is catastrophic in a community like ours), even if it is a low-probability event. So, when cases increased initially, they brought the hammer down by going online for a while, doing extensive contact tracing, isolating and quarantining.
3) Testing. This was the weak part of the initial strategy. They asked every student to be tested before arriving on campus and positivity rates were tiny. But then (I think) the students got a sense that this was it and they would not be tested again.
Some students took this as a free pass. So, initially our cases spiked and the whole basic premise was in jeopardy. But then they brought in the hammer, and also increased testing activity substantially, including random surveillance testing. New cases are now very low.
I think we can dance now. #hammeranddance
I think this is a good model for other campuses as well. But you have to be serious about doing the hammer and dance. And avoid our initial mistakes.
I think this is a good model for other campuses as well. But you have to be serious about doing the hammer and dance. And avoid our initial mistakes.
Again, it's too early for the final verdict and this may yet blow up but so far I am very proud of what the administration and the community has done.
I even think - although I recognize the differences: Notre Dame is much more of a closed community than the whole country is - this or something adapted should have been the strategy for the country. @nd_econ
/End Thread.
/End Thread.
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