Since returning to campus, some students have been placed into quarantine—entailing near total isolation—for varying periods of time. Reasons for admission to one of the 180 quarantine beds vary and it shouldn’t be assumed that if somebody is in quarantine that they have contracted the virus. Currently, two individuals are isolated in Kirk Douglas because of a positive test result and related contact tracing, as Dean Hagi Bradley informed the student body last week.
While the names of those currently in quarantine will remain anonymous, I spoke with students previously in quarantine about their experience.
“I was in quarantine for three days,” Liv Erwich 22’ said in an interview, “the first day I had a roommate, but she left the morning of the 2nd day. I arrived from New York having spent two weeks there, but I had previously lived in a at risk state.”
Liv had come from North Carolina, one of the many states on Governor Cuomo’s travel advisory board.
“It was awful,” Liv said of the experience. “I genuinely had no idea when my results would come back. They didn’t keep us very informed. I think if I had COVID I couldn’t do it again. I would rather leave SLU.”
The conditions upon arriving to campus were understandably hectic, with the University processing over 2000 tests in the span of a about a week.
“I got my pre-test eleven days before school started, not ten,” said Tim Cunningham 21’ concerning the reasoning behind his isolation. “It was me and a roommate. It was after we finished our snack boxes that we realized those snacks were supposed to last us 48 hours.”
“We got a little low, but honestly it was just pretty boring,” Tim added. “We didn’t get our test notification 36 hours after, so when that didn’t happen you start to crank the wheels a little bit.”
St. Lawrence did remind students that they could reach out to security and health facilities. However, a lack of access to mental health professionals was noted. Liv Erwich 22’ spoke of the adverse health effects indoor isolation had.
“They didn’t say anything about mental health at all,” Liv said. “I was already anxious to come back to school because I didn’t want to feel trapped and I literally got trapped in the same room for three days.” He considered it a “nightmare.”
Neither Tim, nor Liv could fathom being in isolation for 2 weeks, a reality for most international students returning to campus.
“It’s harder than you think,” Tim summarized of quarantine. “Honestly the thing that will stick with me most regarding the quarantine experience is how seriously SLU took returning to school. You know, 48 hours in quarantine is a drag on my time, but the fact they didn’t just let me slip through the cracks because I was from New Hampshire is something I now appreciate.”
Liv, having spent 3 days in isolation, ultimately felt that the school failed to provide adequate mental health options.
“I feel like St. Lawrence should really consider the impact on mental health and acknowledge how difficult it was. I hadn’t watched my mental health plummet like that in a long time.”