How the U.C. Campuses Have Managed Covid-19

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We requested Dr. Michael Drake, the new U.C. president, final week concerning the development. “What we’ve executed, that appears to be working, is we’ve primarily based our choices on science,” stated Dr. Drake, who can be a doctor.

Credit score…College of California

Right here’s an excerpt from our dialog, frivolously edited and condensed:

The College of California campuses have dealt in a wide range of methods with the virus.

We meet each week and assessment what every of the campuses is doing. It’s a dialog that started earlier than I used to be right here. The campuses ranged within the variety of college students they’ve introduced again, from a low of about 10 p.c to a excessive of about 60 p.c of the traditional on-campus scholar inhabitants. That’s been decided by the circumstances within the county after which the kind of rooms which might be accessible.

What greatest practices are rising?

We don’t have college students in doubles, with some uncommon exceptions. Locations with extra dorms of the previous sort — with a protracted hallway and shared bogs — have fewer college students than in newer development with single rooms with bogs hooked up. We did consumption screenings — they needed to check, then sequester after which retest after they first got here to campus. And there’s common surveillance testing of asymptomatic folks, with isolation, contact tracing and quarantine.

Any progressive approaches?

U.C. San Diego has a more recent sort of housing that permits them to have extra college students residing on campus. They’re testing wastewater to search for proof of virus, after which after they discover it, they return in and check everybody within the constructing. In a few instances, they’ve discovered virus within the water, examined everybody after which discovered asymptomatic instances. It really works.

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How are you dealing with events, which have been an enormous supply of outbreaks?

Most of our campuses begin later. By the point September rolled round we noticed what occurred with campuses that began early. And we discovered from that. Our college students are considerate, clever adults taken with furthering their educations, they usually need to do what it takes to be secure.

Sure, however what about off-campus fraternity and sorority homes?

We’ve messaged actively with these college students and provide them testing on a frequent foundation. And sure, college students residing on campus do have a decrease check positivity fee.

[Read a conversation with Jennifer Doudna, a Nobel Laureate, whose lab ramped up testing at U.C. Berkeley.]

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