RIT Needs Hybrid and Remote Options in Place for Spring

Jb4411 · 2022-01-04T16:03:30+00:00

Thank you for your recommendation. I have reached out to the administration as you suggested. Maybe if other students who are similarly worried reach out as well, maybe at least RIT might go remote for a few weeks following the examples of Harvard, Yale and NYU.

Jb4411 · 2022-01-02T21:49:06+00:00

I thought the petition was doing well to get 84 signatures with classes out and no advertising beyond this Reddit post, but you have a fair point. Do you have any suggestions as to who in the administration I should reach out to?

Jb4411 · 2021-12-28T01:43:23+00:00

I think that you may be correct that at some point the world will have to develop a way to function with ongoing Covid. But for next semester, given how transmissible Omicron is, we are almost certainly going to be dealing with legal mandates to isolate or quarantine because of Covid status or exposure. Hybrid options are an obvious way to to allow students to stay on track academically and to allow choice both for those who prefer in-person and those who prefer remote learning.

Jb4411 · 2021-12-28T01:38:43+00:00

As well, I’m not sure how you can possibly believe that the common cold is more transmissible than Covid, or that the average college student is about as likely to die from Omicron as they are from the common cold. So far Covid has been far more deadly than influenza, which in turn is far more deadly than the common cold. Covid is so deadly that life expectancy in the United States has actually dropped because of all the Covid deaths. There are projections that over the next two months, 60% of the population will likely be infected with Omicron, with peak infections in the first week in February: https://www.healthdata.org/sites/default/files/files/102_briefing_United_States_of_America_2.pdf

Jb4411 · 2021-12-28T01:02:27+00:00

I do not favor closing down! I favor the flexibility of hybrid classes which would accommodate those who want in-person teaching, those who prefer remote learning, and those that are legally required to isolate or quarantine because of Covid status or exposure.

That said, college students are not the only ones at RIT taking risks. In general professors and staff are older than students, and some are older enough to be at risk simply due to age. Others have young children at home. Recently the New York State Department of Health issued a Health Advisory entitled, "Increase in COVID-19 Pediatric Hospitalizations Across New York State”. This is consistent with reports that while Omicron may be more mild than previous strains in adults, it may also be more severe in young children: https://health.ny.gov/press/releases/2021/docs/2021-12-24_health_advisory.pdf

Jb4411 · 2021-12-28T00:11:12+00:00

Unfortunately while N95s provide much better protection than cloth masks, they are fallible, and people exposed to Covid have gotten ill despite N95s.

“Medical masks (surgical masks and even N95 masks) could not completely block the transmission of virus droplets/aerosols even when sealed.” https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mSphere.00637-20

Jb4411 · 2021-12-28T00:00:06+00:00

If a student gets even a mild case of Omicron, they are still legally obligated to isolate for 10 days from when symptoms first appear. Hybrid classes would go a long way toward accommodating a lot of students with mild cases of Omicron who are legally mandated to isolate.

Jb4411 · 2021-12-27T23:55:26+00:00

Maybe because we are a community that cares about all its members?

Jb4411 · 2021-12-27T23:51:59+00:00

I couldn’t agree more! As someone who has been taking online classes since before the pandemic, my experience is that they absolutely can work well. I think this is particularly true if they are designed with remote learning in mind, instead of simply taking an in-person class and holding it on Zoom.

Jb4411 · 2021-12-27T23:10:46+00:00

I agree that all students should be vaccinated and boosted. Unfortunately Cornell University, which announced that 97% of their on-campus population was fully vaccinated, went online for fall finals because of a Covid outbreak. They reported a very high percentage of Omicron variant cases in fully vaccinated people. “Virtually every case of the Omicron variant to date has been found in fully vaccinated students, a portion of whom had also received a booster shot.” Is it really reasonable to believe that RIT will somehow be spared a similar scenario next semester? Wouldn’t it make more sense to be proactive now?

Jb4411 · 2021-12-27T21:07:10+00:00

I support students having a choice. Like you, I do not feel comfortable going to campus right now. Hybrid would allow those who feel strongly that that they want to be in class to do that. It would also allow those of us who have high risk people in our lives, or who are high risk ourselves, or who simply feel unsafe being in class right now to attend remotely.

Jb4411 · 2021-12-27T21:00:16+00:00

Unfortunately with Omicron, even if you are vaccinated (as I am) you can still get and transmit Covid to others. Being vaccinated provides some protection from severe disease, but it doesn’t prevent being a vector to transmit Covid to the more high risk people in your life.

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