City of New Haven
The imminent reopening of the city’s six local colleges and universities represents both a much-needed economic boost — and a potential health risk.
Such was the subject of a recent webinar hosted by city officials and the city’s Economic Development Corporation in collaboration with local college and university representatives.
The virtual gathering featured a discussion of how to ensure a safe return for the thousands of students who will move to New Haven in the coming weeks.
The conversation comes at a time when colleges and universities across the state and country are struggling with how to safely reopen in-person amidst the ongoing pandemic. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill abandoned in-person classes this week after at least 177 students tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Seven UConn students, including four who recently returned to campus, have tested positive for Covid-19, while another 13 remain quarantined. Here is an overview of the state’s “gating conditions” for higher ed institutions that want to reopen in person.
The Greater New Haven area’s higher ed institutions are Albertus Magnus College, Quinnipiac University, University of New Haven, Southern Connecticut State University, Gateway Community College, and Yale University.
The five local universities with on-campus residential options will be welcoming some students back into residential housing, and all six will have a hybrid model of teaching and learning, with most classes taking place online but some taking place in person.
City of New Haven
Albertus Magnus, Quinnipiac, University of New Haven, Southern Connecticut State and Yale will all have online-only instruction after Thanksgiving break.
Representatives from three of the local universities, Albertus Magnus, Southern Connecticut State and Yale, explained their reopening plans and health and safety protocols during the recent city-hosted virtual meeting.
About half of New Haven’s employment base is connected to the city’s higher education and academic community, city Economic Development Administrator Michael Piscitelli said during the webinar.
With restaurants and retail outlets now open under the state’s Phase 2 reopening guidelines, the influx of students into these establishments could lead to new outbreaks of the virus.
City officials emphasized during the meeting that the city and its academic institutions must be careful not to undo the progress that New Haven and Connecticut have made in slowing the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
City Health Director Maritza Bond said that her department’s goal is to contain the spread of the virus and promote social responsibility in every city resident so that the city can “stay open and vibrant”.
Connecticut is classified as having “slow disease growth” according to a risk level assessment by Covid Act Now, a multidisciplinary team that provides Covid-19 data analysis in the U.S. As of Monday, New Haven has seen a little over 2,800 cases and 114 related fatalities.
Frequent Testing, Masks Required
Undergraduate day program students at Albertus Magnus will be required to be tested no more than seven days prior to their arrival on campus and submit their results to the college’s health services for review. Students who do not do so will be tested upon arrival and will have to quarantine until the results are ready.
Like at Southern Connecticut State University, a random sample of roughly 5 to 10 percent of all residential students, staff and commuter students at Albertus Magnus will be tested weekly.
Both Southern and Albertus have allocated spaces for accommodating students who need to be quarantined and will encourage local students to return home to self-isolate if necessary.
Southern will allow students to begin moving back in on August 24. Classes start on August 26. Out-of-state students from “hot spot areas” as identified by Gov. Ned Lamont began arriving on campus on August 12 to complete a mandatory 14-day quarantine prior to the start of classes.
The state school will require students to wear masks indoors at all times and outdoors when maintaining six feet of distance between individuals is not possible. Dining halls are serving meals in-person with plexiglass barriers in place to reduce virus transmission.
Yale will bring graduate and professional school students and three classes of undergraduate students back to campus, with undergraduates moving back in from August 24 onward. In the fall and spring respectively, sophomores and first-years will not be allowed to return to campus.
With twice-weekly and on-arrival testing for undergraduates and graduate or professional students living in university dorms, Yale has the most stringent testing regime of the city’s universities.
The university is covering the cost of pre-arrival Covid-19 testing for all undergraduate students who will be in-residence and graduate and professional students, as well as the costs of all tests during the semester.
Students will quarantine in their rooms until they receive the results of their tests, and have to remain in their residence halls for two weeks regardless of which state they’ve traveled from.
Underage drinking and off-campus parties, which have been problems in the past, are no longer just nuisances but a public safety issue, said Piscitelli. He asked that liquor store owners be alert to people who come in trying to buy “$10,000 worth of alcohol” and to inform police district managers of similar situations.
Residents who want to complain or report large parties taking place in their neighborhood will have to call the police, if the party is taking place on private property, city officials clarified during the meeting.
Piscitelli said that everyone, especially frontline staff at stores, should not think of colleges reopening as welcoming “the students” back to town.
“We are one city and all the treasures in our community, from the parks and recreation to the great restaurants to the events and attractions, is not just because we have a strong base of people who live here full-time. It’s the people who come through New Haven.”
Watch a video recording of this meeting at the top of this article.
This virus will be around for decades.
Currently, 1 out of every 90,000 Connecticut residents is in the hospital for COVID-19.
If colleges can't find a way to reopen now, then they may never reopen.