Disgusting living conditions and cause for covid 19 concern

To whom it may concern

I was among the thousands of students that my college asked not to return to the campus amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Now that the lockdown level 3 has come, I, like many students, have been called back to resume our clinicals as finalist in the Education and Training of a Nurse (General, Psychiatric and Community) and Midwifery leading to Registration as a professional nurse. We have received no email updates or correspondence from administrators regarding plans for the semester.

Those emails that we initiated with our campus principal came back with unsatisfactory answers, i have taken the liberty to attach the correspondence. We were called back to college on 29 June 2020, and we reported to college, we were given no PPE, all we had were our OWN mask and sanitizers. We were screened and returned to class. On the first day our deputy principal addressed us but was unable to answer when we would be tested for covid19. When we would get PPE or even "If" we will get PPE, She was unable to tell us when our exam date is, what the plan for the rest of the module is, contingency plan if one of us Contracts the virus. We were still in limbo but sitting in a classroom in college. On the second day at 11 am our deputy principal came to us to tell us that our general orderly at campus, who had been on duty on Monday together with us had contracted the covid 19 virus. We filled in a contact form and were told to go home. We were left aloof and in shock and wonder really what are we bieng called to college for??. Worst of all we were not even consulted or considered when the decision was taken to expose us to covid19, we understand the need to finish our course But this approach is based on a faulty premise -- not all students want to return to campus under the circumstances they have proposed, especially in the condition of our nurses residence that does not even have a single hand wash soap in ANY basin on any floor. We do not even have toilet paper in our toilets and our surfaces are not cleaned, daily, weekly or even monthly. We live with bird dropping on our floors, next door to some of our rooms is a friendly neighbour…… the ***eons. No really a real live family of ***eons, I have also attached a picture of this. As much as everyone would love to return to campus life as it existed in January, that’s no longer an option. Bringing students back to campuses at any cost might achieve only a Pyrrhic victory for universities. Below I outline some questions about the proposed “hybrid” models of on-campus instruction.

Staying healthy. To be perfectly honest, I do not see how students can return to campuses without giving rise to a COVID-19 outbreak. There is no way to socially distance at our nurses home residence, our classes at college are small and also cannot cater once all the groups return to college so such classes either must have low enrollment caps or be taught online. Seminars, in theory, could be taught in a socially distanced setting, but lecturer can’t wear masks while teaching, and students will presumably remove theirs to Speak. Further, as these past few months have reminded us, college is about more than classroom instruction. How will dining halls, libraries and lifts be kept sanitized? Will students be expected to socially distance in extracurricular activities, study groups and while just hanging out? Anyone who has ever lived in a shared space, knows that is an unrealistic expectation. Social distancing will go out the window every Friday night.

For the sake of argument, I’m willing to posit that social distancing is possible 24-7. That means no large in-person lectures, few extracurriculars, limited access to facilities and distanced social 0l. Why exactly are we being brought back to campus? Just to be undergoing social distancing and quarantine every 14 days?

Missing class. If I am exposed to an infected student, I will presumably have to quarantine from the time I am exposed until I get sick, recover and ultimately test negative. That could take six weeks! Will all of my classes be recorded? If not, how will I ever catch up? Alternatively, if I am able to remotely view an in-person class, that still won’t be adequate: online-only classes permit remote interaction, but in-person classes can turn remote students into passive viewers. Moreover, recent studies have shown that COVID disproportionately impacts people depending on comorbidities, which means that the disadvantages of missing class due to illness will not be evenly distributed across the student population.

Sick Lecturers: What happens if my lecturer gets sick and has to take weeks off? Will another lecturer take over?( as we have seen in the past when we started the midwifery module, ALL our classes were stopped and we were sent to the clinical area with no orientation or proper knowledge) If that happens near the end of the semester, which lecturer will prepare us for the exam? Different lecturers teaching the same subject invariably have different approaches and expectations.

Sick students. Will infected students continue to live in the residents,( keeping in mind that half of our group mates are from Mpumalanga province) or be moved to some sort of quarantine site? Will students receive medical care in the quarantine site? Certainly someone will have to bring them food. Where will students merely exposed to COVID be asked to quarantine -- their roomss (sharing hall bathrooms and/or common spaces with healthy students), a quarantine site (alongside infected students), or somewhere else (with other exposed students)?

What about other students who live off campus? Will they be forced to quarantine with their sick roommates? If they are quarantined for multiple weeks, will someone bring them groceries?

Is the local hospital prepared for an influx of patients who will likely get sick all at once? Administrators may think this situation unlikely, but students want to be assured that the hospital system is ready. Many colleges and universities are located in college towns with only one small hospital. What happens to students who suffer from underlying medical conditions? What about students who have children and elderly parents?

Worst-case scenario, At a college like mine, with a student population of roughly 140 students, students sick enough to be hospitalized and in an event that students die in a worst-case-scenario outbreak. Our lecturers, though fewer in number, face even higher hospitalization and death rates.

Is this a price we’re willing to pay? If the decision were up to me, I would say no. If a vaccine or effective treatment were developed between now and January, such deaths would be entirely needless.

The online option. Colleges and universities underestimate students by assuming that we would all prefer to assume these risks rather than attend classes over Zoom. Holding online classes does not fix all of these problems, but at least it mitigates them. Students and professors are less likely to get sick. Sick and quarantined students can attend classes remotely as long as they feel well enough -- and they will be able to fully participate from a distance. Breaks could be permitted. We can take care of our families, and they can take care of us.

It’s not a perfect solution, but it shouldn’t be dismissed quite so quickly. Above all, please don’t ask us to return to campus until you are truly prepared to address these concerns.

Thank you Class of group 1/2017