Universities across the country are starting to welcome students back for the fall semester. Many of them have their own guidelines and rules for handling the pandemic. Some are requiring students to self-quarantine before classes start, some have moved classes completely online. There are rules about where masks need to be worn, how many students can be in a classroom, how many visitors we can have in our dorms or apartments… the list goes on and on.
One thing that is true for every university, however, is this: it’s up to the students to help keep each other safe.
Here at YSU, many of us have a significant amount of online classes. However, that doesn’t necessarily keep us off campus, especially if we live in apartments or dorms. YSU has done an extensive amount of preparing this semester, as I’m sure other universities across the country have, too. They’ve set up hand washing stations across campus, they’ve been giving out free masks and hand sanitizer, and set up a system to alert us if we have been in class with a person who tested positive for COVID-19, among other things.
However, the university can have as many rules in place to keep us safe as they want, but ultimately it comes down to us. There are too many students for faculty to make sure everyone is wearing a mask properly. We all need to make sure that we’re doing the right thing when nobody is watching.
Even if you personally don’t think that COVID-19 is a big deal, there are people who do think it is and are at risk. So please do your part to keep our campus safe!