OT: Universities being impacted by the Coronavirus

[Alaskawildkat]

Click the link below for an extended discussion relating to the subject of the Coronavirus over on the Rant Board.

How the outbreak has or will affect Northwestern perhaps others can add insight. In any event this is a summary of the current situation including how it has already impacted Johns Hopkins and Princeton.

There continues to be a high level of uncertainty with regard to the ramifications of the coronavirus as it continues to take a toll. As of today (Saturday in the U.S.) the death toll has risen to 724 with two of those being citizens of the U.S. and Japan who died in Wuhan hospitals. The number infected as officially reported for Mainland China is currently at 34,500. Even the Diamond Princess Cruise ship subject of posts in the linked below thread has added three more with a total of 64 now infected. (All of whom have been transferred by ambulances to Japanese hospitals.) There is even a suggestion that with the new cases having just been identified that the two week quarantine period may be recalculated by the Japanese health officials to start all over again beginning from today.

Johns Hopkins has a joint program with Nanjing University which brings students from the U.S. to study in China. Nanjing is some 300 miles distant from Wuhan but like almost all China continues to see much of its public facilities shuttered. The Hopkins-Nanjing Center just announced that it will not start up again until February 24th, and even then will revert to becoming a virtual campus. Whether the whole university will follow suit remains unknown. All of the Hopkins affiliated classes will then be online. (My own sister and her husband who teach at Nanjing University itself remain here in the U.S. on an extended winter break with eventual return, if and when classes resume, likely to be complicated by continuation of the presently suspended flights to China from the U.S.)

Princeton had 100 some students returning from China to resume classes after the winter break which led to their Alumni Association President going public with a video presentation attempting to avert the fears of the students in New Jersey. Even here in Alaska a family that returned from a visit to China has been the focus of expressed concern by the parents of other students in their childrens' schools that led to the school superintentant speaking on local TV to provide assurances.

Pictured: A live web cam view from the Diamond Princess as it remains quarantined off Yokohama Port at the end of this week and a photo I took last year when I was aboard the ship of the walking deck on the Diamond Princess where some passengers have now been allowed to escape from their confined quarters to go for brief periods of supervised exercise. (Reportedly they are allowed to absent their cabins for 90 minutes once a day and only in shifts with small groups required to stay several feet distant from each other and all wearing protective masks,)

https://northwestern.forums.rivals.com/threads/coronavirus-gets-one-step-closer.49144/

 

[Alaskawildkat]

Now a year and two months after the above posting we learn that Northwestern's acceptance rate has dropped to an all time low (something like 6.9%) for new applicants. At least to some extent a consequence of what we used to simply call the "Coronavirus." (One of the specific consequences was the option for students to apply to Northwestern without reporting standardized test scores, likely encouraging more applications.)

Would welcome hearing from those who are on campus and in Evanston to report on where things presently stand and what the projected prospects are for the beginning of this year's academic year in September.

 

[Smokejumper]

Now a year and two months after the above posting we learn that Northwestern's acceptance rate has dropped to an all time low (something like 6.9%) for new applicants. At least to some extent a consequence of what we used to simply call the "Coronavirus." (One of the specific consequences was the option for students to apply to Northwestern without reporting standardized test scores, likely encouraging more applications.)

Would welcome hearing from those who are on campus and in Evanston to report on where things presently stand and what the projected prospects are for the beginning of this year's academic year in September.

Morty and the university leadership just spoke on the topic.

Highlights -

* in person graduation reinstated for 2020 and 2021 classes this june. Details TBD
* in person classes expected to be the norm in fall 2021, but adminstration is dealing with changing attitudes amongst staff/faculty (seems likely that some hybrid model will continue depending upon faculty)
* administration contemplating mandatory vaccination in fall 2021
* limited availability of vaccines to students/NU community due to limited allocation to Evanston, and what probably seems like continued tenuous relationships with Evanston. The community is actively prioritizing vaccine allocations to qualified age groups and is literally going door to door to administer vaccine by age group (i think they are still at age 85 /s)
* on the other hand, supposedly a batch of a couple hundred vaccines became available last night and the university setup an ad-hoc vaccination site at norris for a few hours in the middle of the night.
* continued weirdness and sadness from most student parents (myself included) over the value/experience proposition of NU for our kids at this time.

 

[its_the_sauce]

Now a year and two months after the above posting we learn that Northwestern's acceptance rate has dropped to an all time low (something like 6.9%) for new applicants. At least to some extent a consequence of what we used to simply call the "Coronavirus." (One of the specific consequences was the option for students to apply to Northwestern without reporting standardized test scores, likely encouraging more applications.)

Would welcome hearing from those who are on campus and in Evanston to report on where things presently stand and what the projected prospects are for the beginning of this year's academic year in September.

I have no doubt classes will be in person. My daughter (who got first shot last Friday at Blomquist) is in second year. Even in this past winter quarter a couple of her larger classes offered optional in person (which she gladly took advantage of).