Greetings,
As we have returned to classes for the spring semester, students have come back together in residential halls, classrooms, and private residences. And an alarming increase in SARS-CoV-2 infections has begun in Burlington. How do we know? Quantities of detectable SARS-CoV-2 genome have skyrocketed in Burlington’s wastewater over the past three weeks (Burlington COVID-19 Resource and Recovery Center). Current levels are at a high since spring of 2022. While it is likely that these data are representative of rates at UVM, we cannot say with any degree of certainty — because the University of Vermont has ceased all surveillance testing for COVID-19 cases, molecular or otherwise. But we do have anecdotal evidence about the state of affairs around COVID at the University.
Despite some students’ best efforts to protect themselves by masking throughout much of Orientation in August, many tested positive for COVID within the first week of classes. None of them were afforded resources from the University aside from an excuse from classes for 5 days and instructions to mask for 10 (“What to do if your COVID-19 test is positive”). Roommates (including in “designated” triple rooms) also contracted the virus, as did many friends and peers (Yeska), largely as a result of a profound lack of structure for isolation (Cumming), with some students taking matters into their own hands and creating isolation spaces (Zucker). With no surveillance testing and no mitigations, SARS-CoV-2 ran through the student body checked only by students’ individual choices to mask, test, report results, and isolate.
And now, we are back. Some of the University’s most critical resources are currently being impacted by COVID outbreaks — organizations that cannot afford to be non-operational, but whose operations are being significantly affected. Students are getting sick. RAs are getting sick. Faculty and staff are getting sick. And there are no substantial measures in place to prevent the spread of the virus. Individuals with immunodeficiency, pre-existing or acquired (including potentially being secondary to COVID-19; Pérez-Gómez et al.), are especially vulnerable to infection and severe disease, and the less we do to prevent transmission, the more potential there is for higher rates of infection and severity of disease.
Many members of our community have friends and family members who have had severe COVID-19 illness and long-lasting symptoms — or have had these experiences themselves. Some members of our community have experienced the deaths of friends and family members due to COVID.
The only requirements that are currently in place at UVM are COVID-19 vaccination and, for those who test positive, isolation. We strongly recommend that the University enact the following mitigation measures:
Require (or recommend) masking in all classes and public spaces at UVM
Require all symptomatic students to test negative via antigen test to attend classes
Offer free, accessible molecular (i.e., PCR) testing for all affiliates
We have vulnerable members of our UVM community who we are failing to protect from COVID. We have healthy members of our UVM community who we are failing to protect from COVID. We are doing wrong by the Burlington community — and our own — by effectively opening the door for the virus to spread unchecked on our campus. We can, and must, do better.
Signed,
Kalman Slater, NREMT, WEMT, and the undersigned individuals
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