Will returning UK students play by COVID-19 rules? Or will they spark new wave of infection?
As some 30,000 University of Kentucky students prepare to return to Lexington this weekend, UK officials swear that they have this situation in hand with a plan that’s both detailed and flexible at dealing with possible coronavirus infections.
For all of us in Lexington, there are only two things we can do: 1) Hope they’re right. 2) Start calling police every time we see large groups of partying students.
It’s lovely to think that after a stern talking-to from UK officials, students will suddenly wear their masks everywhere and follow CDC guidelines, such as not gathering together in groups larger than 10. Or that they’ll worry about UK incorporating those guidelines into the student Code of Conduct, which has a range of punishments, from education to expulsion, depending on the transgression. Mayor Linda Gorton, for one, thinks it will work.
“The university will monitor students closely to ensure their guidelines are followed, and the city will assist with enforcement,” she said in a statement. “I am calling on all members of the campus community to strictly follow safety restrictions. Failure to do so will ultimately mean UK will decide once again to close down campus. No one wants that.”
I’m a little more cynical about the hive brains of 20-year-olds who’ve been at home with their parents since March, and about the ability of huge institutions to keep many of them from doing what they love to do in their spare time: Socialize, drink, burn sofas, drink. Not on the list: Masks and social distance. (At UofL, four sports teams have suspended activity after 29 athletes tested positive following an off-campus party.)
They’ll party and then go to our grocery stores, restaurants and parks. (Let’s also hope Gov. Andy Beshear continues his closure on bars.) Chances are, they’ll spread COVID-19, which means that there will be even less chance that Fayette County schools will be able to meet in-person this semester. And we’re supposed to base that slim chance on the fact that students will be scared of their Code of Conduct?
Kathleen Winter, a UK epidemiologist and board member of the Aylesford Neighborhood Association, said she’s heard lots of worry from neighbors because they live in such close proximity to off-campus student housing.
“There’s great risk for spillover effects in the community with students coming back,” she said. “I’ve heard a lot of concerns from the neighborhood.”
And as Khari Gardner of the Movement for Black Lives UKY student group, said, a student-generated COVID-19 spread will “take a disproportionate toll on people of color and other disadvantaged communities.”
At the same time, I understand that UK felt it had to try to reopen. My favorite Twitter sparring partner, UK spokesman Jay Blanton, says that 500 UK employees worked on their plan to mitigate risk from COVID-19, while knowing it could not be totally eliminated.
“We’ve tried to create a really good plan, we know it’s not perfect, we’ve said there are risks,” Blanton said. “But there’s also risk to not be in a class or on campus, risk for the economy, risk for mental health, risk of a loss of educational attainment.
“We will pivot if we need to, and we’ve shown a capacity to do that as well.”
This is all true, as I’ve said before. We want students to be back in school, getting their degrees. UK is the biggest employer in Lexington, the flagship university in the state. Its employees and students inject life and cash into this city. Unfortunately because we’ve allowed state funding to basically fail public higher education, its budget depends largely on tuition dollars. And in trying to lure students to come here, UK outsourced dining and housing to huge corporations, who spent millions on new facilities that still need to be paid off. The entire enterprise is way too big to fail.
We, the community, also want to get back to normal, particularly with in-person school.
Unfortunately, UK has sown some distrust with moves like waiting until housing contracts were signed to let students know that most of their classes would be online, or denying testing to faculty and staff unless they show symptoms. Yes, it’s great that they’re establishing a baseline of health with testing all students as they arrive, but those results show only a baseline from this week, not going forward.
Here’s what I think would make people, especially those who live near students, feel better: UK needs to be totally transparent about its positive cases. They should talk to nearby neighborhood associations about how they will try to keep COVID-19 from spreading. They need to acknowledge their economic needs. Most of all, they need to demonstrate they will crack down hard on students who break the rules.
I personally believe that in a month or so, we’ll be back where we started in March, but I really hope I’ll be proven wrong.
This story was originally published August 5, 2020 at 1:31 PM.
