Concordia’s Not-So-Safe Return to Campus
Wearing a mask is not an option
I don’t know about you, but I feel really safe seeing people at school wearing their masks below their noses, or not wearing them at all. I also think it’s super fair that some professors don’t wear their masks at all. I didn’t know professors were exempt from infecting others.
You know what else is great? The warm feeling of being in a jam-packed classroom with 100 other students and no social distancing. It’s almost as though you can feel your classmates breathing on the back of your neck, despite them wearing the same mask they’ve had on for six hours.
I also feel very at ease with windowless classes, or classrooms with air vents from the 1970s. Concordia claims to be implementing strategies to improve air circulation, without ever really specifying what those strategies will be. But I guess I should just believe them. It’s not like proper ventilation is a crucial component to preventing COVID-19 transmission or anything.
Another really cool thing to consider is how so many people don’t disinfect their hands. Students are pretty much forced to touch the same door handles as a thousand other students because the university decided not to remove bathroom entrance doors.
It seemed like an easy fix, but Concordia reassured us that they clean the high-touch surfaces twice a day instead of one. I’m sure that extra cleaning is super effective, right?
What really makes the difference is overhearing people in class bragging about how good their immune system is. In fact, they say that it’s so good that they don’t need to get vaccinated. I’m really happy for those students. It’s very reassuring to know that when they get sick, they’ll infect everyone else around them.
In all seriousness though, I just want Concordia to be transparent, and admit that returning to campus safely is pretty much impossible.
Being able to manage all of the issues mentioned is extremely difficult, and the university should stop pretending that it has everything under control.
Even if the majority of Concordia’s population has a low risk of developing serious symptoms from COVID-19, I just wish they could have done more to ensure people's physical and mental security. Enforcing social distancing, installing air filters, reducing class sizes, and making remote classes more available are all things that can be done to ensure everyone feels safer.
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