The traditional outbreak of illness is complicated this year as people struggle to decern what is COVID-19 and what is a common sickness. As students recently returned from Mid-Semester Break the ongoing sicknesses continue to disrupt student life on campus.
“We always do see an uptick of [sickness after] any break,” St. Lawrence Director of Health Services Erin Casey said. “We continue to see a lot of strep and mono, and mainly the common cold.” This pattern is on par with trends in illnesses observed in a normal semester before COVID-19. Unlike before COVID-19, this semester when students come to the health center exhibiting symptoms, they are immediately administered a rapid COVID-19 test. This creates more work for the health center staff than in years prior to COVID-19 and “it’s been busy,” Casey said.
“From a public health standpoint, if you are sick…and you haven’t had a COVID test, staying home or in your dorm room until you’ve been evaluated… [will] help prevent the spread,” Casey said. To be cautious, “a runny nose is COVID until proven it’s not COVID.” Casey advised students to avoid attending classes while sick, but recognized this can be a challenge given the academic consequences of missing class.
Zoom offers a way for students to succeed in their classes yet avoid spreading illness on campus. “If you have any sense that you’re not feeling well just don’t come to class; we will Zoom,” St. Lawrence University Professor Joe Erlichman said. By presenting students with the option to Zoom into class if they are sick, Professor Erlichman attempts to decrease the illness transmission rate among students in his classes.
Other than academics, another aspect of student life that has been disrupted by illness are sports practices. “You definitely want to take the time to recover from any sort of illness” before attending practice, said Head Athletic Trainer Brian Atkins. The main concern is to “prohibit potential illnesses spreading amongst the teams.”
St. Lawrence students are not alone in facing illness this season. “We meet with the area colleges on a weekly basis with public health, and we’re all typically seeing the same things,” Casey said. “Our numbers are very low in terms of case counts of COVID, but the health centers are all remaining busy with the typical things we might see in a normal semester.” Getting an influenza vaccine to prevent a flu outbreak would “dampen down the stress on the health care capacity in general, and that’s including regional and beyond.”