According to COVID-19 Statues and Summary as updated on March 16, there are a total of 18 active cases of COVID-19 in Keene State College. Among them, around 77% of the cases (14 students) are off-campus students.
As of March 1, 21 out of 28 total active cases were off-campus students. The data shows that there is a spike on off-campus COVID cases.
The Equinox believes that the rise in number is due to the different living settings, and different policies put in place.
The off-campus students don’t necessarily live with all Keene State Students who get tested twice a week, and they are not supervised closely by desk assistants (DAs) or community assistants (CAs) as on-campus students are, adding the possibility of being at risk. The off-campus students are also not allowed to get tested on campus when they test positive or when they are in quarantine, which indicates that the college’s support to the off-campus students are low as compared to on-campus students who are allowed to get tested on campus at the upper respiratory clinic between Monadnock Hall and Randall Hall on campus.
The Equinox agrees that it is unfortunate that the off-campus cases are more, however, the off-campus student group shouldn’t be seen as a threat to the campus. They paid the same tuition as others and should have the rights to be engaged on campus. Unless the college goes remote, the off-campus students should be welcomed on campus without being seen as a risk. The Equinox believes that during these difficult times, coming to campus and hanging out with close friends and using campus resources can be a good outlet for socialization for the off-campus students.
Given the circumstances, the Equinox believes that it was expected for the off-campus cases to be higher. The Equinox expected the college to be more prepared regarding this topic.In the Equinox’s view, off-campus students are an integral part of the college who contribute significantly to student organizations, classrooms and the college environment.
The Equinox hopes the college community will treat both on-campus and off-campus students in a fair way, and shouldn’t be discouraged to be involved on campus due to higher cases. On the bright side, the cases are also going down compared to past weeks.
