Topline
Communities with colleges, where thousands of students have started returning over the past month, are driving the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the U.S., according to data published Friday by USA Today, confirming previous warnings from health officials that cases may spread beyond campuses.
Key Facts
Of the country’s 25 worst Covid-19 outbreaks over the past two weeks, 19 are in towns with colleges; the five communities with the highest number of coronavirus cases per capita all house colleges with at least 15,000 students enrolled.
Topping the list, with 1,562 cases per 100,000 people, is Harrisonburg, Virginia, where James Madison University is located.
JMU announced it was sending its students home and switching primarily to online courses on September 1 after reporting over 500 coronavirus cases less than a week after in-person classes started.
The communities housing Washington State University, Central Texas College, Georgia Southern University and Iowa State University are also all reporting over 1,100 cases per 100,000 residents.
While some of these colleges aren’t hosting in-person classes, many students have returned to the area around campus anyway, swarming local bars and apartments.
In Whitman County, Washington, for example, just 70 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 residents were reported before Washington State University students returned to the area (the semester started online, but many students moved to campus), and now, the number is up to 1,295.
Key Background
Young people are less at risk of dying from coronavirus. In fact, a 25-year-old who contracts Covid-19 is approximately 250 times less likely to die than an 85-year-old, according to estimates of fatality rates. However, a greater concern is that college students, many of whom don’t show symptoms, will spread the virus to the surrounding community, or, if their colleges close because of outbreaks, will bring Covid-19 home. The city of Oxford, where the University of Mississippi is located, is a popular spot for retirees as well as college students. Mayor Robyn Tannehill has expressed concern about the uptick in cases and reported 26 residents at a local veterans’ home have died in connection to Covid-19 during the past month.
Crucial Quote
“College-age kids are the vector; they are the accelerator by which the virus can be amplified,” Dr. A David Paltiel, a professor at the Yale School of Public Health, told The Wall Street Journal.
Big Number
88,000. The number of cases reported at over 1,190 U.S. colleges since the pandemic began, according to a New York Times analysis. At least 60 have died.
Chief Critic
Students across the country are complaining their colleges are unprepared for campus reopenings amid the pandemic as a growing number of schools with in-person tuition report major outbreaks. Students from the University of Iowa published an editorial in the student-run newspaper entitled “The University of Iowa is not safe,” asking the administration to shift to all-online learning. A similar article ran in The Daily Mississippian, the University of Mississippi’s student newspaper, where students questioned whether the college was ready for thousands of students to return, answering: “Hell no.”
Further Reading
“’Astonishingly risky’: COVID-19 cases at colleges are fueling the nation’s hottest outbreaks” (USA Today)
“Students Across The Country Complain Their Colleges Aren’t Safe Amid Pandemic” (Forbes)
