During the first week of March, COVID-19 cases spiked on campus. The St. Olaf College COVID-19 Campus Dashboard displayed that 184 people had received a confirmed positive COVID-19 test and were placed in isolation. By March 15, spring semester numbers reached 414 total positive cases. The purpose of isolation is to separate people who have been infected with COVID-19 or are showing symptoms from those who are not infected.
St. Olaf has six dedicated places for isolation — the Wilkens, Sovik, and O’Neill Houses, Forest Inn, and Ytterboe and Rand Halls — which can hold a total of 32 students. With the increased number of cases, “We have had a number of roommates test positive at the same time, or situations where one roommate is in their 90-day window of previously having COVID,” said Associate Dean of Students of Residence Life Pamela McDowell. “This allows the roommate to remain in the room. A number of roommates also feel that since they were living with their roommate before the roommate tested positive, they have been exposed and feel comfortable staying in the room while their roommate isolates.”
If the roommate does not want to remain in their room, the student who tested positive will most likely move out first. However, last week the dedicated isolated housing had reached maximum occupancy, so the positive student needed to isolate in their room, even if the roommate wanted to leave to isolate.
After speaking with a case manager, the student is assigned to an isolation bed. Students are connected with Public Safety for transportation or may walk or take their own vehicle. “If a roommate who has tested negative needs to move and has not identified a friend to move in with, we assign the student to a hotel room we have retained. Hotel rooms are only for students who have tested negative; COVID-positive students are not assigned to hotel rooms,” McDowell said.
Throughout the pandemic, many COVID-positive students have chosen to go home because that is where they feel more comfortable.
One St. Olaf student has been in isolation for approximately a week at Forest Inn. After receiving test results from a personal rapid test, the student reported the positive result and received a call from contact tracing and a call concerning housing. The student was given three options for housing — going home, having the roommate find somewhere else to stay, or moving to an honor house.
“It was all very on the spot and they recommended I go home,” the student wrote in an email to the Messenger. “I had about half an hour to get back to them with a decision and I was forced to quickly call my family and my roommate to figure out what options I really had. In the end it was a pretty snap decision to take the honor house option. When I got there the room I had been assigned was already taken, which was frustrating, and I was told to take any open one I could find in the house. My option happened to be a double, so I had a roommate for four full days. I have now moved to a single.”
In isolation, students may only leave their room to use the restroom, fill up a water bottle, shower, or pick up meals. Meals are available for pick up in the Black Ballroom daily from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. Case management staff can deliver meals to students who are not well enough to pick up their meals.
“Food has actually been great so far. But we’ve been walking right through campus and Bunt to pick up food though, which really stresses me out. I’m not sure all of campus realizes that people with COVID-19 are walking around and it’s not like I’m visibly labeled. The last thing I want is to get anyone else sick,” the student wrote.
Students are required to remain masked at all times when they leave their room. No visitors are allowed and it is not permitted to talk to people in the hallway with the door open when a student is in isolation.
“The ability to get outside to walk around masked has been a real plus, I was really frustrated by the lack of outdoors time with quarantine last year. There is a certain stress that was present last year though: all you have is free time and it’s really hard to draw a line between recreation and school work. None of the activities I do feel like really rejuvenating breaks so it’s hard to get myself to be productive and it’s frustrating to feel unproductive when you have all the time in the world to get things done. It can be a pretty vicious cycle of getting stressed and taking a break, not feeling rested by the break which makes it all the harder to get back to work,” the student wrote.
“Students may not leave isolation until they receive a release letter via email from contact tracing staff. While in isolation, students should reach out with concerns or questions so the contact tracing and case management staff can respond,” McDowell said.
