COVID-19 update for the week of September 27

This week in COVID-19 news: the campus seems to be recovering from last week’s outbreak and things are winding down after a busy homecoming weekend.

Last Monday (9/27), the College’s testing program identified two cases on campus. Another two students tested positive the next day.

Since the College implemented mandatory vaccination for students, contact tracing does not necessitate quarantines, so the number of students in quarantine remains zero.

There were no new cases the following Wednesday and Thursday, showing strong numbers from a busy weekend. Friday and Saturday, however, brought one positive case each, leading up to an anxiety-inducing homecoming weekend, with families streaming to Mayflower Hill from far and wide.

Looking forward after homecoming weekend, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday’s PCR test results will be indicative of how COVID-19 cases were affected by family weekend. Hopefully, the College will remain at health code level “Green” as the College has all semester long.

Overall, continuing mask mandates, combatting COVID-19 this semester has been significantly easier. The mask mandate no longer applies to the outdoors, and contact tracing simply entails wearing masks in all spaces indoors and not eating inside of dining halls for five days.

This is significantly more relaxed than last year, when contact traced students were required to quarantine in a single occupancy room for seven days with no in person contact.

~ Will Bedingfield ‘22