COVID-19 has made 2020 a year that we all will never forget. The coronavirus has disrupted many aspects of our lives, and our college experiences have proven to be no different.
How does your university plan to keep its students safe during this time? You all have heard from your universities about the measures that they plan to take to minimize the virus’s threat — have you noticed any holes in their plans? I have, and it gives me a lot of concerns. The most promising measure that my university has put forth is giving out free masks to its students. However, distributing the masks doesn’t ensure that people will wear them, and it does not account for the areas that they cannot be worn in.
COVID-19 has quickly become the bane of my existence, and with the fall semester just around the corner, I’m a little concerned. You see, I’m anemic and my white blood cell count is so low I could probably count them on my fingers and toes. If that’s not enough cause to worry, I also have asthma. So, when I get sick, I get sick — and that’s just from everyday colds and viruses. Can you imagine what would happen if I caught the coronavirus?
Luckily, my university is planning to follow the University System of Georgia’s guidelines for reopening campus. They’ve told us that we’ll be given masks, which will be mandatory while on campus and in classrooms — except for in the commons and student center while eating. That last part is the part that concerns me. My university has not informed us of whether or not they will be limiting the number of people in these spaces — and I’m assuming they aren’t because it would be a giant inconvenience in more ways than one. There’s no way that we will be able to sit six feet apart in these areas, so how are we going to avoid the health risk?
This problem doesn’t even just arise when speaking about areas where dining takes place. It also includes libraries, study rooms, the rec center, and sports functions. We have not received any information on how the potential spread of the virus will be handled when we return to campus, and it’s honestly very troubling.
I trust that as far as our courses go, students should be pretty safe. But when it comes to everything else about campus life? Not so much. On the plus side, I won’t be living on campus this year. However, most of my time will be spent there, so I really hope that everyone —teachers, staff, and students — are deathly serious about keeping themselves and their peers safe during this pandemic. It will be virtually impossible to monitor and make sure that every single person on campus has a mask and will wear it, but I really hope that they do. All I know is that I will definitely do my part. I just hope that for everyone else’s sake, others do too.
Honestly, I have mixed feelings about going back to campus. I love my university and I miss the atmosphere, as well as, the people there. But I’m scared. I hope that my university and USG know what they are doing. I hope that they are prepared. And, I think that’s all I can do: hope and trust that they have it all handled. A large part of me feels as though they don’t and are flying into this as blind as I am without my glasses, but I guess we’ll see in a month.