For juniors going into their sixth semester of college here at the University of Wisconsin this month, COVID-19 has encompassed nearly all of their college education in some way or another.
During their freshman year in 2020, the class of 2023 had their spring semester upended when most residence hall tenants were sent home by UW Housing in an anticipatory measure to keep students from contracting COVID-19, effectively robbing them of their chance to experience a fulfilling end to their first semester on campus.
Their sophomore year was all together erased by COVID-19 as the UW campus shuttered its doors to its students, transitioning its classes to behind computer screens. While many were thankful to continue their education during this time, it was clear that they were missing out on other equally important aspects of college life such as socialization and professional networking.
This year has thankfully allowed all students to resume in person coursework, but 2022 has come with the added mask mandate, a measure that had initially appeared as though it would be temporary, but has been continually extended by administration numerous times since its implementation in Aug. 2021.
While prospects were initially hopeful that we would again get to experience college without these added safety barriers, this year has proven that this reality may be more wishful thinking than actual possibility. Across campus, professors consistently stress their wariness of COVID-19 and administration continues to swiftly put hope for a return to the days before masks to rest, offering students little recompense for their time spent attempting to help “flatten the curve.”
We have seen, however, a number of transitions that, while not necessarily heartening with respect to a return to normalcy, have significantly improved life as a student continuing to navigate the pandemic.
For one, we are no longer required to “pool our drool.” Those who were on campus last year will likely remember last year’s rather repulsive and mandatory twice-a-week saliva COVID-19 testing with less than fond memories. Thankfully, this requirement is now a thing of the past, replaced by voluntary nasal swabs.
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Campus has also come a long way in continuing to operate despite present circumstances. Though our everyday lives as students remain far from any semblance of normalcy, the 2021-22 school year has been one which has most resembled what campus looked like during precedent times. Students are able to eat in dining halls, study at libraries, work out at campus recreational facilities and do other activities central to the college experience, which are considered peripheral to the strictly classroom-oriented perspective we were given throughout the 2020-21 school year.
Given these gradual, yet encouraging transitions, what can students expect from the remainder of their time on campus?
For one, it seems unlikely to expect the mask mandate to ease anytime soon. This is the easiest measure for administration to incorporate into our daily lives and remains a significant tool to attempt to bandage the present circumstances surrounding the virus.
We may perhaps see phases where it is deemed unnecessary for all individuals to go masked for a certain amount of time, but the nature of COVID-19 has proven that a mask mandate will be a part of our looming future.
While both COVID-19 and the masks feel rather indefinite, the outlook remains hopeful that we will never again see a time so dark as when campus was in complete lockdown. Community pressure both in Madison and nationally has mounted against a return to lockdown status, with some demanding remote instruction for early parts of the semester, and campus leaders have developed coping techniques to allow for campus to continue moving while COVID-19 waves come and go.
As it currently sits, the UW campus feels as though it is on a fence between much stricter pandemic measures and a complete return to normalcy. Some may acknowledge this limbo status as our “new normal,” an idea perpetuated by UW Chancellor Rebecca Blankduring the early days of our return to campus. But, each of our cautionary COVID-19 measures feels less like a true solution to the virus and more like a temporary bandage to a larger problem.
This makes our present campus wide outlook on the virus questionable at best. That is to say, it is truly anyone’s guess what will come of the next few months with respect to COVID-19. Campus positive testing rates are consistently low, and both students and faculty are vaccinated against COVID-19 at exceedingly high rates.
All considered, my outlook on COVID-19 remains the same — cautious optimism. Odds are low that we will ever see a return to a campus-wide lockdown, and our collective health is as good as it has ever been. While the future surrounding the virus remains uncertain, I take solace in the fact that, for now, I have real classes to attend and will never again spit 15 mL of saliva into a plastic tube twice a week for months on end.
