Colleges report rising post-Thanksgiving cases
Spike sparks calls to go remote
Coronavirus cases on Boston-area college campuses have shot up since the Thanksgiving break, triggering calls for remote-only classes and sparking concerns about next semester.
The trend of rising cases at colleges mirrors the Massachusetts post-holiday surge — during which the state has reported record-high case counts and spiking hospitalizations.
The impact of elevated cases is being felt at Boston University and Northeastern University. Both campuses on Thursday reported that at least 100 students are in isolation; 100 BU students and 105 NU students.
At BU, the university has reported at least 18 student cases on six of the last nine days — elevated counts that haven’t been seen all semester
Meanwhile, 50 staff members tested positive for the virus within a week. The case numbers have sparked calls to go fully remote.
“It’s just incomprehensible to keep having in-person classes at this time,” said Michael Siegel, a researcher at the BU School of Public Health. “When there’s clearly an exponential rise in cases, that’s exactly the time to close down.”
No campus shutdown is planned as the semester winds down, with the last inperson classes this week. It’s leading to worries about how the campus will handle the situation moving forward..
“What is an acceptable number of sick people to the school?” Siegel said. “What do they consider an acceptable number of employees who have to suffer this illness before they decide it’s time to start protecting the community?”
There is not a single metric that will trigger a switch to remote learning at BU.
“BU continues to monitor a number of key indicators to evaluate whether plans and approaches may need to change,” a BU spokeswoman said in a statement.
BU has touted that the state’s positive testing rate is significantly higher than the college’s rate. The seven-day
weighted average of the Massachusetts positive test rate is 5.86%, compared to BU’s rate of 0.36%.
“Our public health measures, frequent testing and contact tracing are keeping BU’s rate lower,” a BU spokesman said in a statement.
At Northeastern, 129 positive tests have been reported since Thanksgiving break.
“The positive cases have been primarily among students living off campus,” a Northeastern spokeswoman said in a statement, adding that contact tracing and quarantine are helping.