When the Fall 2021 semester began, we all had high hopes for being able to put the pandemic behind us and have a relatively normal college year. Understandably so: after the heartbreak, loss, and frustration of a year and a half of the COVID-19 pandemic, we finally had 98 percent of students and staff vaccinated, and the end seemed in sight.
However, less than one month after returning to campus, we are in a perilous situation. Before this publication, there was a peak of 21 cases (which has thankfully now declined), which is more than at any single point in the prior two semesters, before the vaccines became widely available. How did we get here? This was not unexpected. The spike was predicted by myself and doubtlessly many others, but we were ignored.
I understand the desire to put COVID-19 behind us. However, the rise of new variants and the virus-like spread of anti-vaccine misinformation have ensured that this is not yet the case, and the administration should have known this. During the week prior to students’ return to campus, the United States was experiencing a rolling average of 150,000 new cases and 1,500 deaths per day (New York Times). This in and of itself, while unexpected, was not unprecedented, as during previous surges there had been similar rates. However, in conjunction with relaxed rules on campus, this spelled trouble.
From the start, I saw that there might be consequences of this move. On Zoom calls with the administration before the semester started, I raised concerns about the rollback of COVID-19 policies, such as no longer sanitizing desks, or no longer requiring masks in many settings. These concerns were initially assuaged by statements about new discoveries and changes in our understanding of the virus, such as the prevailing view that it is not commonly transmitted on surfaces. Despite this, I remained worried about the potential for an outbreak of a new strain.
When I arrived on campus, something was very different about the atmosphere. Last semester and the semester prior, students wore masks everywhere without being asked. Now, the majority of students I encounter outdoors are maskless, which is permitted but makes me personally uncomfortable and may contribute to the spread of COVID-19. In residence halls, students are frequently unmasked even indoors despite the “yellow” status of the campus. Even in classes, I regularly find myself having to ask my peers to put on masks or put their masks over their noses, as if this pandemic has not already been ongoing for 18 months, as if students have not already been required to wear masks in class for over a year. This is a difficult situation, as no student wants to be seen as rude, but many of us are concerned about our safety in an advancing deadly pandemic.
What is occurring at Skidmore mirrors a wider trend at the national level. In May, to motivate more people to get vaccinated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) rolled back restrictions for vaccinated people, allowing vaccinated people to be maskless in many situations. This resulted in two rapid problems. First, since most public places and venues did nothing to check who was or wasn’t vaccinated, there was no way of verifying that the people without masks were vaccinated. I observed this issue while traveling to the Finger Lakes in July. I knew vaccination rates in the area were around 60 percent, but almost everyone I saw in public was maskless. 60 percent vaccination rates are not sufficient for herd immunity, and meant that many unvaccinated people were out and about spreading COVID-19 with no policy in place to stop them.
In addition to the lack of confirmation, there was also a second problem in waiting: breakthrough cases. As would soon become clear, while vaccines significantly decrease the risk of severe illness and death, vaccines alone are not enough to protect our communities. Other measures like masks were and still are important to contain the disease. Americans saw repercussions and many states reinstated mask guidelines indoors, but masking rates are still below what they were before. People do not respond well to reinstatement of rules if they have previously been told that they do not have to follow said rules, and this effect is apparent on campus as anywhere else. Once the rules were rolled back, students were unlikely to follow them or take them nearly as seriously when reinstated.
While we have the benefit that almost all students are vaccinated, breakthrough cases are still a very real threat that has likely occurred already. While I cannot find data on whether the students infected by this point in the semester were vaccinated, given the 98 percent vaccination rate, it is likely that at least a few were. Worse, more breakthrough cases allow more opportunities for the virus to mutate and develop new strains which may evade vaccines more efficiently. As such, it is imperative for the present that we not ease up on prevention.
I do not wish to level blame, merely to hope for better and try to understand why we are in the situation we are in. However, I do think that the administration made some critical errors which impeded our pandemic response and contributed to the current situation. I hope that further progress can be made. If you are still practicing precautions like masking, thank you.