By Rebecca Li, Staff Writer
We know how to stop the virus: masking, testing, ventilation and filtration.
We also know what happens when we punch holes into these layers of protections: we give the virus more opportunities to spread.
In recent weeks, Bi-Co administrators have done exactly that by compromising mask requirements on campus.1On April 1 and April 7 respectively, Bryn Mawr and Haverford administrators announced their intention to shift to “mask-friendly” policies by April 2 and April 11. Students were not asked if this would improve their experience. Compounding this, they continue to encourage a sense of security and complacency about the virus.2 In their sole communication about the surge on April 15, Bryn Mawr administrators downplayed the situation. noting only 4 screening positives on April 15 with a vague mention of greater numbers of self-reports. In full, there were 30 total new cases the previous week, from 4/7 to 4/13. By 4/20, there were an additional 43 new cases. 3Both administrations continue to avoid the topic of Long COVID. This is a painful neglect, particularly since vaccines appear to reduce the risk by only 50% and the most conservative estimates say that 10-30% of people with even mild infection may experience Long COVID.
Cases are spiking on both Bi-Co campuses.4 Because screening tests have been fully optional for most of the semester, the number of cases reported on the COVID dashboards is likely an undercount. However, based on the available data, 43% of Bryn Mawr’s 175 student cases this semester have occurred since the change in mask policy was announced. As of April 21, Haverford currently has 61 active student cases. Approximately 18% of their student population has tested positive this semester, as have 91 employees. Administrators have doubled down and downplayed the situation in response, despite repeated assurances that they would adjust quickly should circumstances change.
Instead of implementing solutions, Bryn Mawr and Haverford administrators have been quick to defend themselves. They highlight locations where masking is still required and emphasize the protection offered by masking. Yet they themselves created the numerous communal settings where masking is not required on campus, and therefore the circumstances for transmission.5 There has been no attempt to solicit the community’s thoughts on mask requirements.
We could waste time debating the strength of their defense, but to what end?6 To those here for the debate, in brief: in focusing on the purported “no evidence of transmission in classrooms or in other public settings where masking is required,” what both administrations omit is the many public spaces where masks are no longer required — a deft avoidance of the cause and concomitant solution, but one that comes at the cost of the community. Regardless of their provenance, cases are here and increasing. Other schools that previously dropped masking requirements have already taken decisive action in response to similar on-campus spikes. George Washington University restored masking as the key to public health; as explained by their dean of the School of Public Health, “nonpharmaceutical measures like masking should be considered part of what it means to live with the coronavirus.” Institutions like Barnard, Georgetown and Johns Hopkins have done the same. Now it is our turn.
There is little time to lose. At stake: a disruption-free end to the semester, including May Day, Senior Week, and Commencement.
Our actions now determine whether our campuses will be safe living, studying, and working environments — key to our ‘residential college experience’7 Bi-Co administrators have made upholding the mission of a residential college their guiding principle. Does this not entail a responsibility to protect the community? — or whether they will be the cause of further mass infections for our communities and families.
Individual action is inadequate and deeply inequitable in the face of a collective, community health threat. The virus is becoming more transmissible, and booster protection against infection is waning.8 The new dominant form of the virus, Omicron BA.2, is at least 30% more contagious than the already unprecedentedly transmissible BA.1, and is rapidly ceding ground in the United States to subvariant BA.2.12.1, which appears to have an even greater growth advantage.
This does not mean that transmission is inevitable.9 Nor that the future is hopeless. New promising protections — like nasal boosters and better air purifiers — continue to emerge, but it is necessary to buy time for the research to advance. The world has spent two years fighting to establish the knowledge and capacity to defend against it. We know what works, and the tools we need are in reach. But we need our administrations to enact the policies that they know will protect the community.
It is time for administrators to make good on their promise to provide improved PPE to those who need them. At 3M.com, less than $7000 will purchase 8000 of the excellent Vflex N-95 for the community, not even $1 per mask. We know that surgical masks — which are loose-fitting and designed to protect against droplets, not aerosols — are vastly inadequate compared to N95 masks. We know that universal masking is more effective than one-way masking. We know that aerosols linger for hours, so taking masks off and putting them on again later is not a solution.
It is also time to stockpile rapid tests.10And it is past time to arm the community with accurate information: about N-95s over surgical masks, about the extent of the case levels, about the risks of Long COVID, and about the importance of asymptomatic testing. In the words of Haverford administration, testing empowers people to “know [their] status and to prevent further spread.” Use rapid tests for more accessible and comprehensive surveillance, supply them to participants in higher risk activities, and encourage or require their use for returning from isolation.
As the Bryn Mawr Operations Planning Group said, the safety of our environment “depends on each individual’s willingness to remind others — immediately, kindly, and with consideration for varying needs and constraints — of the community’s shared responsibility for limiting transmission.” Administrators are not exempt.
We have every hope that the Bi-Co administrations will demonstrate their commitment to the community, particularly the vulnerable among us, and to public health. And we urge you to let them know how important it is to stay committed to these principles.
In the meantime, it is up to us. We can’t dictate policy but we can take simple precautions and maintain a culture of care: for each other and for the people around us. Keep your masks on. Isolate and test if you have symptoms or doubts.11Remember that false negatives are common with both PCR and rapid tests — a negative result doesn’t mean it is definitely just allergies or a cold! And as much as possible, keep activities and events outside.
The pandemic won’t go away because we wish it to. But we can do all our part to minimize its impact on our lives. Precautions, not blindfolds, are what will empower us to live as freely and normally as possible. The end of the Spring semester approaches, with all the stresses and joys that it brings. Let us work together to welcome it with more joy and less stress.
Image credit: Getty Images
