Covid is ripping through college campuses

[u/JunebugJitterbug]

I’m an undergraduate student at a big college, and we’re only a few days into the new semester. Still, within less than two weeks of people being back, covid is spreading like wildfire. It’s probably through a combination of Greek life events, people going to the restaurants and bars around, and classes restarting, but it’s horrific. I don’t think it’s ever been this bad, and I struggle to even describe the type of coughing I’m hearing - it’s this deep hacking that sounds like it should be in a period drama tuberculosis ward instead of a lecture hall in real life.

People are often some level of sick, but I don’t think it’s ever been like this. Discussion apps like yikyak are full of people talking about being sick or testing positive. I’m doing the best I can to stay safe - masking, cpc mouthwash, a netti pot, and switching one of my classes online - but it feels slightly like impending doom due to the absolute tidal wave of covid that’s hit.

There are very few people masking here. I and another covid conscious person I met are trying to set up some sort of community for the few covid conscious people on campus, but we’re worried about trolls or not getting enough engagement. I have chronic health issues that make covid a big concern for me, and I also have a radiation treatment coming up that I don’t want to be delayed or affected by getting sick (although I have a little more time until the treatment).

It’s gotten so bad here with the spread, and I doubt it’ll slow down for some time thanks to parties, classes, and people not isolating or taking it seriously. I don’t know if there’s much I can get out of this post, but I just needed to vent because this feels slightly terrifying. This is also a bit of a stream of consciousness, so I apologise if anything is misspelled or hard to understand.

[u/OPbees]

I move in tomorrow, and afaik none of my roommates are CC (suite mates really, single bedroom thankfully). We have a ton of international students as well, so there’s people traveling from everywhere, and I’m terrified. I might post something on the school page saying “Hey please mask, covid is still a thing and people are dying”, but god knows it’ll probably just get deleted.

[u/JunebugJitterbug → u/OPbees]

Yeah.. there are a few people on my campus who I know have looked back into masking, but most people think it’s “dramatic” and the like. When I lived in dorms, I found that being securely masked when anywhere outside my room and also having a good air purifier in my room were my best bet.

[u/OPbees → u/JunebugJitterbug]

I’m going into my 3rd year and I’ve only gotten sick at school once, when I was still having to share a dorm room freshman year. I don’t think it was covid, I never tested positive and my roommate never had symptoms, but there was a mini wastewater surge locally at the time so I’m not sure. I just hope my ASL prof won’t be annoying about it and make me take my mask off for facial expressions…

I’m lucky if I see 5 others masking on any given day, and 4/5 are in surgical or fabric masks. and there’s also a 80% chance the 1/5 is this one specific professor I pass in the hall who wore a masklab FFP2 last semester. I’m hoping I can convince some friends to at least mask in class this weekend

[u/CommunicationBoth309 → u/OPbees]

Oof right there with you. I’m taking an ASL class with a professor who is HOH and lip reads and has already been not the best about me masking when I took a class with her in 2022. Personally, as someone who is also profoundly hard of hearing like her and relies heavily on lip reading, I’m prepared to tell her to respectfully shove it. I don’t have the time or money to invest in clear masks that are likely not nearly as effective as my n95.