Welp. Here we go again.
Following record COVID-19 cases , many California colleges have gone remote during the first few weeks of instruction in 2022. It鈥檚 a decision made by all nine UC undergraduate campuses, most Cal State campuses, and prominent private universities like Stanford and USC.
While students made it through a promising fall 2021 鈥� with many for the first time in 18 months 鈥� winter brought new stressors: the possibility of catching the new variant, having remote instruction extended indefinitely or even being sent home from campus.
鈥淚t feels like it鈥檚 out of my control and there鈥檚 nothing I can do about it,鈥� said UC Santa Cruz junior Michael Wool. 鈥淚t鈥檚 frustrating because it felt like we finally had almost what campus was like before.鈥�
Omicron is forcing students to adjust their preexisting notions about pandemic life. Out with the cloth masks and in with the N95s. Two marks on your vaccine card are now insufficient, as booster shots become widely available. But what exactly is safe to do on campus? And how can students best protect themselves?
The CalMatters College Journalism Network spoke with a panel of public health experts to get answers to all your omicron questions. (Their comments have been edited for length and clarity.)
If a university requires students to be vaccinated, boosted and masked, how much disruption to face-to-face teaching can we expect omicron to cause?
Dr. Jerika Lam, viral infection specialist, Chapman University: If we want to prevent remote learning from happening, we have to really be accountable and take precautions and protect ourselves and others, so that surge goes down. But it鈥檚 kind of like, you know, cause and effect. The effect will be remote learning if what we are doing right now is still being cavalier and just thinking that 鈥極h, this is a common cold.鈥�
Dr. George Rutherford, epidemiologist, University of California San Francisco: I would hope we can keep (remote learning) just for the first couple of weeks, and I think that鈥檚 a realistic expectation. Hopefully it will be over after the omicron surge鈥hat鈥檚 what the dynamics would suggest from other countries.
Dr. R. David Rebanal, assistant professor of public health, San Francisco State University: Booster requirements, along with masking are really good things 鈥� good things for public health, as well as good things for safe education environments. Campuses that have those kinds of requirements are going to do better, particularly in the spring. And so my message would be to follow those guidelines in terms of getting your vaccine or booster, continuing to wear masks in public places, and then let鈥檚 just see how it goes.
Dr. David Hardy, director of infectious diseases, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center: One of the things that we need to start doing with the pandemic is we need to start learning to live with it, as opposed to assuming that it鈥檚 all going to go away and everything is going to go back to normal. We need to move out of an emergency mindset and into a maintenance mindset, because coronavirus is probably going to be with us for several years at this point.
Studies have shown that people who are vaccinated and boosted who get omicron, 85% of them do well. So even with the change that omicron has made, our vaccinations and boosting has held up. And if universities are truly requiring vaccinations and boosting and masking, then in-person learning can continue.
On some campuses where isolation rooms are limited, COVID-positive students are isolating in their regular dorm rooms with non-positive roommates. Is that safe? And what can roommates in this situation do to limit transmission?
Lam: Unfortunately, this is not safe for the uninfected roommates and they should take safety precautions to prevent themselves from getting infected. If the uninfected roommate is fully vaccinated and is boosted, the chance for them to get infected from their COVID-positive roommate will be much less than an uninfected roommate who is not fully vaccinated The uninfected roommate should wear a mask around the COVID-positive roommate for at least 10 days to protect themself. The dorm room should be ventilated as much as possible by opening a window or adding a fan, (and) the uninfected roommate should avoid in-person classroom learning and other activities until after they have received negative test results and remain symptom free.
Rutherford: Non-positive roommates have to leave. You can cohort people who are infected together, four people in a room who are infected, that鈥檚 not a problem. But in a single room with two other roommates you can鈥檛 limit transmission. I would test the others pretty carefully to make sure they鈥檙e uninfected before moving them out.
Rebanal: That is such a tough situation. I have a daughter who also is in college and recently this situation has come up. I think in a situation where you have nowhere else to go, the only thing you can do is to do things like stay masked, keep some distance, limit interaction with that student. Hopefully if that student is vaccinated and boosted, you鈥檙e more protected. You can open the window and that could help sort of limit the transmission. We know that this current version or strain of the virus is relentless and is very transmissible.
Hardy: I think that鈥檚 gonna be tough. Someone may be vaccinated and may be boosted, but they may have a health care concern that they may not want to necessarily make public, that makes them at more risk for progression of disease with the virus. Because we have to remember that people who have altered immune systems don鈥檛 respond to the vaccine and the booster, because it just doesn鈥檛 work for them. And because this is something that may not be necessarily public information, one really has to be careful about exposing a known COVID positive individual to anyone. If a university cannot, cannot give COVID negative a place to get away from 鈥� or I should really say COVID positive people a place to isolate, then that鈥檚 a problem. You鈥檙e creating a situation where you鈥檙e putting that negative person at risk. And that鈥檚 not fair.
How should college clubs approach holding their weekly meetings?
Lam: I would say without knowing the long term complications of COVID-19 infection, we should try to minimize getting infected. Meaning that we should try to have virtual meetings for at least the month of January until the surge flatlines or goes down. I would say just take a lot of precautions and if you don鈥檛 need to be there in person, please do it remotely for safety.
Rutherford: I think you should model what they鈥檙e doing in the classroom. So if classes are virtual, then meetings should be virtual. It depends on the size, obviously, and where they鈥檙e held. If it鈥檚 held outdoors and there are only three people, then you probably don鈥檛 need to worry about it too much.
Rebanal: I recognize how important it is for students to gather and to socialize.I鈥檝e seen firsthand the mental health struggles of students who have to deal with isolation or less physical interactions with students. So college clubs play a huge role in the education and social lives of students. I think if there are ways to sort of mix things, like have a virtual model until further notice, or even gather outdoors if that鈥檚 possible 鈥� you know, we鈥檙e in California, I grew up in New York, we鈥檙e lucky enough that that is quite possible to do. And then maintaining the other things that we do, (such as) masking.
Hardy: We have the advantage in California of being able to be outdoors as much as possible. And I think that鈥檚 one advantage we should really recognize and use as a way to keep in-person meetings going, if possible. If not, then I think one needs to be cognizant of who鈥檚 vaccinated, who鈥檚 not, and who鈥檚 potentially at risk because of an immune-compromising condition. If someone decides that they do not want to come to an in-person meeting then they don鈥檛 have to. There could be a combination set up for that person to be able to join the meeting virtually, electronically. Having hybrid meetings is something that certainly is still going to be possible and still going to be done for a while.
Should college students with three to five roommates be masking when interacting with each other within their home?
Lam: It depends on whether my roommates are vaccinated or not. If they鈥檙e all vaccinated, whether they鈥檙e boosted or not, they should not be masked as long as they test negative. But I would highly encourage students right now dorming in suites and maybe apartments, even in a dorm room with another roommate, to at least get tested twice a week.
Rutherford: As soon as everybody鈥檚 vaccinated and boosted, I think you treat them as family and let it go.
Rebanal:The guidelines about the households would be that you wouldn鈥檛 need to if you live together. By and large I think if you鈥檝e don鈥檛 have any symptoms, and you don鈥檛 have any other reason to know that you鈥檝e been exposed and you鈥檙e vaccinated, then I don鈥檛 think you would have to necessarily live in your house with a mask.
Hardy: The public health teachings have been that if you鈥檙e in a nuclear, sort of family situation, your own little cocoon, then you don鈥檛 have to mask. What鈥檚 gonna upset that is the increased amount of testing we鈥檙e doing. Because everyone gets five tests a month from the federal government and they鈥檙e using them on a random basis. People are gonna pop up positive fairly frequently, also in the house. If you test, you鈥檝e got to have a plan ready to go, how you鈥檙e going to handle that positive test.
People get exposed to the virus in lots of different ways. Maybe one or two of the roommates out of five are not necessarily keeping themselves protected once they leave the home. The assumption is that when people leave the home, they鈥檙e masked constantly, but that may or may not be a mutual agreement that is recognized by all members of the household. I think there鈥檚 got to be some careful recognition that a group of roommates is like a family, and if they are going to not mask at home, that there are ground rules for how they鈥檙e going to interact with others outside.
When exactly after testing positive for COVID-19 should students get the booster shot?
Lam: Based on the current science, if the individual recently tested positive for COVID-19 infection, then that individual could get the booster vaccine once their symptoms have resolved and they have met the criteria to end isolation. For those who have received monoclonal antibodies as part of their COVID-19 treatment because they had moderate-to-severe symptoms 鈥� they will need to wait 90 days before getting the booster.
Rutherford: If they haven鈥檛 monoclonal antibodies for treatment, which probably most college students haven鈥檛, you can get it pretty quickly. I鈥檝e seen advice as low as five days. CDC doesn鈥檛 have any formal advice on this but I would wait probably at least a few weeks.
Rebanal: You should wait at least 10 days after your positive test, because of the isolation guidelines. I think as soon as that鈥檚 up, I think you should get a booster as soon as possible after that.
Hardy: They should鈥檝e gotten the booster shot already done. Students are 18 and older. Boosters have been approved for people 18 and over since September last year. And so you know, people should鈥檝e already gotten their boosters and if they haven鈥檛, they need to get them right away. If someone鈥檚 symptomatic with COVID I wouldn鈥檛 give them the booster right then. I鈥檇 allow them to convalesce to get well and as soon as they鈥檙e well and they鈥檙e testing negative 鈥� which means they can come out of isolation 鈥� then they get the booster.
My friends aren鈥檛 boosted. Should I limit interaction with them?
Lam: I don鈥檛 believe that isolation long term will work for anyone because we are a social community in general. I would say that for that friend who鈥檚 not boosted, that friend should be highly, strongly encouraged to get boosted because we know that immunity from vaccination does wane over time. The one dangerous caveat to all of this is that a lot of people don鈥檛 know the long term effects of infection from COVID. So even though we think Omicron is less dangerous, less virulent, I still have the virus in my body and we don鈥檛 know the consequential impact of that virus on my brain, on my heart or my vital organs, and that鈥檚 the unknown and the scary part. (So) I would still take precautions to hang out with my friend who is not boosted but will speak with (them) and ask why they haven鈥檛 gotten boosted.
Rutherford: Yes.
Rebanal: We know that boosters have lessened the severity of those who get the virus. It doesn鈥檛 totally protect you from getting it, but you won鈥檛 get it as badly. It鈥檚 so important that we do the things we are empowered to do. It鈥檚 a tough thing, because are we talking about when someone鈥檚 already vaccinated, are we talking about someone who鈥檚 immunocompromised? That鈥檚 a different question. So in those instances you might want to template that a little bit differently.
Hardy: The people who are not boosted are much more vulnerable. Whenever someone gets ill with COVID from an exposure, they鈥檙e shedding virus more. The vaccine and the booster cut down on the length of time that someone is shedding the virus from maybe seven to 10 days down to maybe two or three days. But yeah, if someone didn鈥檛 get boosted, and they get sick, they鈥檙e more likely going to give you an exposure as well. I think in some ways, peer pressure here is a good thing. If someone鈥檚 not boosted, and people are saying, 鈥極h, that person is not coming to the party,鈥� that鈥檚 okay.
Would you go to a dorm hangout with a handful of friends without a mask now?
Lam: Oh, definitely not. We would recommend small group gatherings, no more than six to eight people and making sure that you鈥檙e aware of their vaccination status. If it鈥檚 a gathering of 20+ people and you don鈥檛 really know their vaccination status, I would recommend to wear a mask indoors if possible, unless if you鈥檙e eating, making sure there鈥檚 ventilation in that setting. If it鈥檚 a restaurant, request for outdoor seating with heater lamps, to make sure that there鈥檚 flow of air moving, and so that there is little risk of omicron lingering in the air for you to breathe in.
Rutherford: No. If you鈥檙e like a foursome in a room, yeah, I think that鈥檚 fine. But try not to combine. It depends on how many people, but you don鈥檛 want to dig in too deeply, and get exposed to too many people.
Rebanal: I think right now, the recommendation is to stay masked indoors until around Feb. 15, until the surge dies down. It鈥檚 better to be more cautious in using masks as much as possible during this surge.
Can I go to a house party? And should I wear a mask while inside?
Lam: I would recommend out of out of safety and prudence not to go to any house parties for the month of January. It鈥檚 kind of like if you see embers glowing in the house and there is a fire in the corner, would I go inside that house? Probably not. Because the next thing that will happen is that the fire will spread and I don鈥檛 want to be in a burning house.
Rutherford: You probably shouldn鈥檛 go to a house party, but if you are, wear a mask inside for sure.
Hardy: A house party with people who you鈥檙e not living with within your family cocoon? You wear a mask, unless the party is outdoors. And if someone鈥檚 coughing, or someone鈥檚 having some sort of respiratory symptoms, then wear a mask even outdoors because they are potentially spreading the virus and you don鈥檛 know for sure. People may be familiar, but it doesn鈥檛 mean that they鈥檙e part of your cocoon.
Is it safe to share a joint or cigarette with boosted friends?
Lam: Yeah, technically, it is safe. I mean, I know that we share drinks and we share food. And as long as a person is negative and not symptomatic, the person can share the joint with another friend who is not symptomatic and negative as well.
Rutherford: As long as no one鈥檚 infected.
Rebanal: Because there鈥檚 saliva, if you have a virus and you share almost immediately with someone, there is some level of risk, then, to transmit the virus. I think you have to take that into consideration if you鈥檙e doing that, and know that that鈥檚 a potential mode of transmission.
I can understand the tribulation and confusion students have that is at tension with their desire to return to a more in person social setting. I think having information that lets people make the best decisions is really important.
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