University Upsurge

When the UK came out of the first national lockdown, one of the biggest concerns was how to reopen schools to ensure a good quality learning experience, but also keep the students safe. Now as the first half term comes closer for schools in England, how many of the Government's decisions were correct? More importantly, can we expect to see some more changes in the next few days?

When universities opened for the new students, a problem instantaneously became visible. New statistics show that in 64 universities around England and the UK, at least 1 student has contracted COVID-19. In places like Manchester, which have become COVID hotspots, this number is much, much higher. In these cases, students have come to the university from across the UK, or even the world, and have been forced to sit in their accommodation, doing what they could have done from the comfort of their homes. I don't think that the universities reopened without realising that when you bring lots of people together, COVID is going to spread. As the PM's office said, 'Universities are autonomous'. This means that they set their own rules, make their own decisions about what they teach, how they teach, etc. Unfortunately, it also means that students who are forced to self-isolate in their rented university accommodation might not receive any compensation, either for their rent or their tuition fees. In Glasgow, for instance, is giving a refund for one month's rent and giving the students £50 for food costs.

Another unfortunate consequence of going back to university is if travel restrictions change, or local restrictions change, the students are not supposed to go back to their homes. However, this is only guidance, and therefore is not enforceable. If a student can propose a good enough reason, then they can return home for a longer time. But if one student tests positive, it can spell self-isolation for hundreds of other students.

So was reopening universities a good idea? Well, university students going back to school also means that the nightlife industry (clubs, pubs, etc.) will be back in full flow. Obviously, this means more interactions between people and therefore more cases of coronavirus. If the students catch coronavirus, this means that many more people will have to self isolate, as I have mentioned before, but the detrimental effects of going back to school for a week, only having to self isolate stretch further than having to stay in.

Firstly, if students have to isolate, the quality of their learning plummets. This is especially true with tutorials, when the students meet with the tutor in small groups for personalised learning. If this cannot happen in person, where the students can ask questions and learn the topic in person, this could prove to be a major issue. Secondly, part of the university experience that is also as important as learning is socialising and living with other people who you may never have met before. When you are stuck in your little world for the foreseeable future, the chances for socialising drop to almost zero. This has some significant mental health impacts, such as being alone for a long time increasing the chances of depressions and feelings of loneliness.

A likely addition to the rules will be a circuit breaker lockdown, and we will probably see this come into effect in the half term. This is already being implemented in Scotland, and will probably be used in England after next week too. Having a short local lockdown might mean that the interactions between people will be reduced and hopefully, we will see a reduction in cases. As well as this, the curfew that was added to the rulebook a week or so ago is now under review, after calls that the curfew was counterproductive and encouraged people to spend time in other places instead of just staying in - after the curfew hit, a common phrase you could hear on Friday or Saturday night was 'what should we do now?'. If this is what is going to happen, then surely a lockdown is better? I think we will see some stricter measures coming in soon, especially with the PM suggesting some new rules to be implemented over the next few days/weeks.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, please leave a like, comment and share with your friends - I would love to hear your thoughts about the new measures that might come in soon.

See you next week!