UW Campuses are Doing a Good Job Fighting Covid

COVID-19 arrived in the US and swiftly blindsided colleges around the country which led to students being sent home. Months later college students return but the same issue looms over campuses, who has COVID-19 and how do we handle it?

“As you know, we worked hard over the summer to prepare for fall reopening. We developed testing capacity, surveillance and data collection systems to inform us of virus spread … worked on contingency planning … and re-designed thousands of course,” UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank said.

Similar to the rest of the UW system, universities around the country underwent heavy change in how they operate and provide a manageable life for their students. Numerous COVID testing opportunities like antigen testing, providing thermometers to students to self check and educating students on what to look for in terms of symptoms. University guidance and protection has been the students biggest asset in terms of avoiding covid during the fall semester.

Now in an environment where students are nervous to interact with each other and simply turn on their computers to attend school it is a little bit hard to keep a level of excitement and school spirit.

“Returning and new students will find many Fall Welcome activities from Comedy Sportz to campus cookouts, the class of 2024 photo mosaic and more. I highly encourage you to take part in some of these activities to warmly welcome and interact with our students… More than ever, our students will need friendly faces and to form connections with those who can increase a sense of belonging and make their UWM experience everything it can be,” UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone said in a press release.

Wisconsin universities like UW-Whitewater are working to make their students’ environments as safe as possible and their students know it. They’re showing change by converting parts of their student union into a temporary testing center, giving thermometers to students to self check and offering free food from their food pantry to whoever needs it.

“I’ve been tested two times so far, it was pretty easy to do since they offer it free at  our health center.” UW-Whitewater student David Pollyea said.

“UW-Whitewater cares deeply about the health and safety of our community. Our Facilities Planning and Management crews have completed extensive plans for the frequent cleaning of our buildings and are installing signage to encourage safe behaviors. We also are working with health experts in Walworth, Rock and Jefferson counties and the University of Wisconsin System regarding testing and contact tracing and what to do should the virus be detected on campus,” According to the UW-Whitewater website.

Even though these Wisconsin universities are working to keep their students safe, sometimes it’s out of the control of the school.

“I feel like our schools are doing a lot to keep us safe, it’s not possible to keep everyone safe but they’re doing their best. I’d say for such a big problem we’ve definitely contained it pretty well,” UW-Milwaukee student Leo Kleiner said.

Statistics accumulated from UW-Milwaukees, UW-Madisons and UW-Whitewaters COVID dashboards.

UW-Whitewater has the least amount of infected students according to their COVID dashboard, with that being said they have only allowed 409 cases since March. Following in a close second is UW-Milwaukee with 443 cases since September according to their dashboard. UW-Madison leads the group in cases at a sum of 1543 student cases according to their dashboard.

“It makes sense, Whitewater was voted the safest campus in Wisconsin last year,” Pollyea said.

            The lower infection rate at UW-Whitewater could be credited to their management since the outbreak and commitment to frequent cleaning of their campus as the UW-Whitewater website said.

“Whitewater has been offering free covid tests at our health center and handing out self care kits every week designed to help prevent the spread of covid,” Pollyea said.

Whitewater and Madison offer some helpful solutions like COVID testing, online school and express the importance of being aware of who you spend your time with, all of which UW-Milwaukee also does to ensure safety for the student. Most schools offer these benefits but don’t have the same low rates like most UW universities.

“I’d say I feel safe, our school has taken the right precautions, is offering free testing to everyone and has expressed to the students how important it is to be safe. They even gave their students free UWM masks if you have your student ID,” Kleiner said.

With nothing but uncertainty looming in the next coming months as we wait for another spike of COVID, the workload for maintaining a safe campus life is going to shoot up.

“Here we are already, about to enter what is an uncharted fall term. There is a certain amount of trepidation and I think most of us are experiencing some form of fatigue from the prolonged uncertainties we face…  It’s a distinct honor to work with such passionate, talented individuals who are driven by a mission for the greater good,” UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone said in a press release.

While COVID doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon judging by the high infection rate in Wisconsin, the schools are doing everything they can to keep their students safe while on campus.

“The campus kind of feels the same, I see a lot of people walking around and in common areas, it’s just a little bit different because we can’t meet up in social areas,” Pollyea said.