Friday, November 27, 2020
Largest cluster off-campus to date; Weinert says to hang on, hope on the horizon
The Tartan: 18 Carnegie Mellon students caught COVID-19 in an off-campus cluster of cases that the administration is calling the “largest cluster identified among students to date.” In an interview with The Tartan, Daryl Weinert, Chief of Staff and Vice President for Strategic Initiatives and campus COVID-19 Coordinator, said that the cluster was centered around two households, and friends associated with those holdholds. Of these 18 positive and probable cases, which were not all symptomatic, one student was exposed to campus.
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CMU has been doing pretty good with keeping COVID cases low this semester, so it’s not too surprising that with Halloween, Election night, and the semester ending that something popped up. I know it’s hard to keep yourself isolated all the time and not see anyone or really go anywhere. School is hard enough as it is and especially so when you’re lonely. But at least for me, since I live alone (with my cat), I don’t need to worry about what my roomates are doing or where they’re going; and since i’m generally not that social, it’s not too difficult for me to not see other people. I just hope that we all don’t grow too tired of it that we start ignoring all of the rules and keep increasing the number of cases. Especially since Thanksgiving just happened and a lot of people travelled for it. If we can all just do a better job at following the rules perhaps we can get this pandemic over with sooner and actually get to see each other again.
This shows that even CMU students are not immune to COVID. It also means that a number of students did not care enough to take the necessary precautions either. I understand that people are getting pandemic fatigue. I’m getting it. But I also understand that I do not fully know what would happen to me if I caught COVID either. As much as my doctor has assured me otherwise, I still have a mini panic attack whenever I leave the confines of my bubble. I’m also really impressed that we have not had more cases than what has been reported. Locally, CMU and Pitt make up a large portion of the population of Oakland, Squirrel Hill, and Shadyside and CMU students have by and large taken all of the prescribed steps to slow and stop the spread and they should be commended for that. I have no housemates and I rarely see the other people who live in my apartment building. To those who do have housemates, take precautions, it’s not done with us yet.
It really was inevitable for a rise of COVID cases to be present at Carnegie Mellon following the halloween and election results festivities. Carnegie Mellon Students have been doing particularly well following a Tartans responsibility and social distancing both on and off campus. The past few weeks have seen a rapid rise of COVID cases nationwide and it is not surprising that that inflation of cases around the country is being mirrored in COVID 19 cases. These COVID 19 rise of cases is a lesson to all of us that if we put our guard down regarding social distancing and covid precautions, a rise of cases is inevitable. It is really sad to see everyone go through pandemic fatigue. This pandemic has been raging for almost 9 months and it is very hard to keep constantly vigilant when students are struggling with online school and loneliness. We should just keep in mind the hundreds of thousands of Healthcare workers who are truly fatigued of having to face this virus everyday and face death at a great magnitude.
Honestly, I think it is genuinely impressive that CMU has come so far with so few cases, and this is the first big outbreak that is not even that huge. Obviously, any clusters testing positive is horrible and should be avoided at all costs, but I am happy to be at CMU where this has happened so relatively little when compared to other universities. It does make me nervous for what will happen in the spring semester, but if anything, it is good this cluster is testing positive at the very end of the fall semester, so if anything on campus were to shut down, it is not that impactful to the whole experience of our first semester. In my experience, all my friends from home are staying home for the spring semester, because their colleges either never opened their campuses or failed to keep COVID cases at bay. I am infinitely grateful for the measures CMU has put across to allow us to have an in-person experience. It is truly invaluable as I can clearly see the other outcome where I would be stuck in my hometown with everyone else, struggling with a fully digital college experience.
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