By Kayla Brown, Arts and Entertainment Editor
Coming back to campus has been a goal for many, especially for seniors like myself. For some, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused fear and kept them from returning to campus for a number of reasons.
All of these fears are valid, and have kept me awake at night, making me question whether it’s worth returning to campus. But schools have created numerous protocols for this return, anything they can think of to get students back on campus for this spring semester.
Many of these protocols are different from the ones that were in place last semester. For example, last semester we had to take a spit test and provide a negative test two weeks prior to our on-campus return. Then throughout the semester, students were randomly tested and the wastewater was constantly being tested, which was how the majority of the cases were found.
This semester, Susquehanna decided to invest in on-campus testing, meaning everyone will be tested twice a week. For our second test during the first week, we had to choose from either a nasal swab or a spit test, neither of which are very enjoyable. But aside from walking across campus and coming up with enough spit to fill a test tube, this wasn’t too challenging.
The challenge is what you must do to be allowed into your dorm. There are three options for this: have proof of a positive COVID-19 test in the past 90 days, have a negative PCR test within 72 hours or complete COVID-19 testing once you get to campus. If you haven’t had COVID-19 in the past 90 days, you will most likely fall into the third option and have to receive a rapid test once you arrive on campus. I fell into the third option.
Since I don’t bring a car to campus, my dad drove me up as he or my mom have done the past eight semesters. We both knew that I had to be tested, so prior to the email we got on Friday night, we assumed that it would be a quick affair as it was supposed to be rapid. We had it all planned out that he would just wait in the car for the 20 minutes or whatever time it took.
But that changed when I received an email two days before I was set to move in, telling me that it could take hours to receive the results of the test.
So, where does that leave people who don’t drive themselves to campus?
It leaves your family member or friend either freezing in the car for two hours or finding a restaurant that does dine-in during the current pandemic and two hours behind schedule.
It also leaves the students constantly texting updates and feeling bad for causing a delay in their friend or family member’s day.
But if you plan to live on campus, it’s what you have to do.
So, when my dad and I arrived on campus, we followed the signs and he dropped me off on the side of the Field House. From there, I walked the rest of the way around and entered the doors to the indoor track. After checking in and waiting in line for about five minutes, my nose was swabbed. They do the shallow swab, so all it did was make my eyes water.
Following the nasal swab, I reported to Bogar, where me and fifteen other students sat in a classroom, waiting for the test results, as my dad attempted to pass the time.
Aside from someone pointing you to the correct classroom, there is pretty much no communication from the school, so you have no idea how far along your test is. This makes it very hard to update your friend or family member, who is wondering how long until they can get on with their day.
I tried to pass the time by doing school work, others played on their phones or listened to music. Many, like myself, constantly checked the clock to see how long we had been in the classroom without any communication.
Anytime someone stood up, even just to go to the bathroom, you got your hopes up because you thought you’d be next; but then they’d come back and you’d go back to waiting.
Finally, after almost two hours, three people hopped up and left the room. They never came back, which was a good sign for the rest of us. Within minutes, everyone was packing up their bags after receiving an email telling them they were “cleared for takeoff.”
Everyone went their separate ways from there, some went back to their cars in the Smith parking lot, others went to meet up with friends and some like me, had to go locate their parents, who had spent two hours trying to keep busy.
My dad had gotten food and then made it to Degenstein Campus Center, so I decided to meet him at my dorm. From there, move-in was pretty simple, aside from my dad not being able to help me unpack, which is understandable.
I appreciate the care that Susquehanna took in trying to get students back on campus safely, I just think calling this test rapid sends the wrong message and that an email with move-in information should be sent sooner than one or two days ahead of time.
