Middlebury isn't saying whether students will return to in-person learning when they return to ... [+]
This morning at 5 a.m., students at Middlebury College in Vermont woke up to strict new Covid protocols. The dining halls are closed. Students are eating “grab-and-go” meals. All indoor events including classes, athletics and performances have gone remote or been canceled.
“Rising student cases that require isolation, ongoing transmission, and the few days remaining in the semester warrant the change to remote instruction,” says an announcement on Middlebury’s website.
“While many of the new cases we have identified appear to be connected, occurring in clusters among people who socialize together,” says the announcement, “an increase in the prevalence of COVID-19 increases the likelihood of broader community transmission.”
The announcement does not mention the Omicron variant. Instead it says, “With more than 99 percent of students fully vaccinated and many already receiving booster doses, the risk of adverse health outcomes from the Delta variant is low.”
There are 34 new cases on campus, bringing the total to 49 student cases and one employee case, according to the announcement. Middlebury, ranked No. 44 on the Forbes top colleges list, is a small private liberal arts college with a student population of 2,700.
Vermont has a high vaccination rate. Some 84% of the state’s population of 624,000 has received at least one shot. But cases have recently spiked.
Public health statistics show that Addison County, where Middlebury is situated, has an average case positivity rate of 4% over the 14 days leading up to December 9. There were 410-800 new cases per 100,000 people between November 18 and December 1.
Case positivity rates need to be below 5% and fewer than 10 per 100,000 people, in order for K-12 students to attend in-person classes safely, says the CDC.
Middlebury’s media relations office did not respond to a request for comment. The New York Times quotes a 21-year-old student, Riley Board, the editor in chief of Middlebury’s student newspaper. “There’s a general creeping anxiety, both about our health and safety, but also about what it means for classes, finals, events, performances,” she says. “If I had to predict how people will feel. . . it will be this defeated end to the semester.”
“Middlebury will be criticized for overreacting,” says Thomas Curchin, a family physician in East Montpelier, Vermont. A lot of Vermonters are tired of taking precautions and they’re letting down their guard, despite rising case rates. “I really appreciate the college is looking at reality while everyone else is looking the other way,” he says. “Middlebury said, ‘Here’s one simple thing we can do. It will be less disruptive in the long run if we do this now.’”
DePaul University, a private, Catholic university in Chicago, announced December 3 that it would hold classes remotely for the first two weeks of the winter quarter, starting January 3.
The Middlebury announcement does not say whether students will return to in-person learning when they return to campus for the winter semester, which commences on January 6.
Students had been scheduled to depart for their holiday recess on December 19. The announcement encourages students to leave campus as soon as possible. Final exams, scheduled from December 14 to 19, will be given remotely.
See also: Colleges Begin Requiring Covid-19 Boosters As Omicron Lurks
