By Joseph Heldrich, senior political science major
Last week, I received a call from Saint Vincent’s Contact Tracing Team about possible COVID-19 exposure, and that I would have to quarantine for two weeks with my roommate (we were around the same person). This was just the type of news I wanted to receive at 10 p.m. on a Saturday. Thankfully, our two weeks were shortened to four days after a negative test result came back for our contact. I never thought I would be happy to go to the cafeteria—crazy, right?!— but I was; they don’t give you much food in the to-go meals, and I barely saw a vegetable or fruit during my isolation. My roommate and I felt like we were in Pavlov’s dog experiment because the knock on our door meant food was being delivered. I am a senior with four classes left, so I don’t really have much to do. Food and prison workouts were the most exciting parts of my day. If you’re one of the poor souls who finds themselves in isolation, I hope you get along with your roommate. I do, so that makes being kept in a small space easier. I’ll add that online classes aren’t my favorite, but they do work, and the professors, at least mine, are helpful and understanding. That’s about all I can say about my experience in isolation.
Regarding SVC and its COVID policies overall, I’ll say a couple things. SVC’s polices are annoying, but we aren’t as strict as other schools, who literally have the Covid Gestapo (although I have been known to call my friends in Res Life the “purple-shirted Gestapo”). Our demographic is least affected by COVID, so I do see some of SVC’s policies as superfluous. It’s sometimes hard to tell which of these measures were made by bureaucrats and which by medical professionals, because I sometimes wonder where common sense went. All in all, though, I’d much rather have classes on campus than be sent home.
Ed.: Students are permitted to leave for walks or medical care.