Thanksgiving travel + WASHU - What's the plan?

My sophomore son has decided to stay in St. Louis for the Thanksgiving break in order to keep people safe. Yes, we will miss him but we are mature enough and caring enough to do this. We will see him in December. I hope students who go home for Thanksgiving, STAY HOME!

It’s extremely concerning that WashU is changing its Thanksgiving. Our family made the commitment for our son to remain on campus for the holiday with the understanding that this would be true for all students. To date, we’ve been reassured by the safety protocols in place as well as the commitment students have show to adhere to them. Covid-19 doesn’t respond to half-measures. This new flexible policy is a slap in the face to the students and families who have worked diligently to minimize risks to themselves, their families, and their communities. Students who leave and return to campus amidst a steep increase in infection rates nationwide only to go back home a few weeks later has all the makings of a super-spreader event. Please don’t risk the success the WashU community has achieved in keeping infections in check. We all miss our kids and want to enjoy Thanksgiving with our families as we normally would. But these are not normal times and we can’t treat them as such. For the safety and well-being of the entire WashU community, as well as the home communities of each individual student, we urge you to reconsider anything that goes against the original, agreed upon policy.

Many students and parents are doing all they can to ensure the campus stays open for Spring semester, including giving up our Thanksgiving traditions with our children this year. Please don’t jeopardize the Spring semester needlessly.

Again I would like to register my strong opposition to allowing community members who travel and/or gather in large numbers to return to campus after Thanksgiving. This puts my daughter and all the other community members who are abiding by the agreed-upon policy to NOT return, at risk.

The WashU campus has done so well with such an incredibly low positivity rate. Why mess with a good thing? The relaxed Thanksgiving policy will certainly impact the infection rate and will potentially affect those who chose to do the right thing and stay on campus. I also worry that with only three weeks between students returning from thanksgiving and then leaving for winter break, it leaves open the distinct possibility that some students will either return home in December with covid (asymptomatic) or be unable to return home on time bc they are stuck in quarantine. Please just flat out state that if students return home for thanksgiving, they are prohibited from returning. Then you can boast a fantastically low positivity rate all semester!

Logical

Thank you for writing this.

As a mom of a freshman and a pediatrician, I strongly believe that this is not the time to be relaxing the Thanksgiving travel policy, especially knowing that the numbers of COVID cases are already increasing and will only get worse as more people gather indoors and the influenza season comes upon us. This is a very risky time and we must consider the safety of both the WashU community, the students and staff, and as well as families that entrusted the care of their students to the WashU administration.

I have made many comments regarding this on social media but will reiterate that I feel so disappointed in the administration.

We should consider University actions to quarantine any student who leaves St. Louis County for Thanksgiving, even those living off campus, as they take classes on campus. Student travel needs to be monitored for the safety of the entire WashU community.

We have two students living off campus this year. We are not permitting them to travel home for Thanksgiving. It seems like the right decision for the greater good, for the protection of the WashU community. We are disappointed that the University is not keeping their commitment on this issue, and without any good explanation or safety measures in place for when those who do travel return.

Find it irresponsible for WashU to back track on this mandate.. more so with the rising infections in majority of states

I sent my child to school with the understanding that WashU would keep the students on campus over Thanksgiving. I don’t understand what is gained by changing this original plan. I think there is only downside to having students go outside the campus bubble. Please honor the original plan.

Thank you

I agree. The school should have a unified message as outlined in the original guide. Too many voices and too many irresponsible actions have lead our country to deeper water. I think it is best to be unified and to move forward for the good of the community as a whole.

I feel there should be mandatory reentry testing and quarantine until negative results for all ResLife students who leave campus over Thanksgiving.

I really hope you will do everything possible to help kids stay on campus AND have a warm and inviting Thanksgiving with their new WashU family so that all our families can be safe this season.

We chose to take the risk to allow our daughter to attend WashU in person, knowing that you had plans to keep the students safe. We also knew she would not be able to come home for Thanksgiving. However, with the new policies in place regarding travel during this time, we are very concerned and feel that the university has let us and the students down. We are now thinking that she is going to have to come home at Thanksgiving and not go back as the risk will be too high for her. These policy changes are going to create a new risk situation for many. Please reconsider.

The relaxation of the Thanksgiving travel policy is disappointing and very concerning. This will increase the risks to the WashU community. Those that travel will have greater exposure, but the risk will also be imposed on others including those that abide by the original safer protocol of not traveling during Thanksgiving. Furthermore, there are additional risks because of winter. Corona viruses are known to spread more during this time, and in fact, cases are already rising across the U.S. including STL to record levels. And this will also coincide with the typical Flu season. Traveling during this time will bring significant risks back to the WashU community. It is imperative that WashU implement additional measures such as testing all in the community twice the week after Thanksgiving. One test at the beginning of the week and another test a few days later – to identify the asymptotic before they inadvertently propagate the virus. If additional measures aren’t taken to mitigate the increased risks, this can allow an outbreak in those final weeks before winter break.

We allowed our daughter to learn on campus in reliance on your conservative Covid 19 practices including among other things and specifically the rule to stay at school during thanksgiving break or stay home if you go home. Now that the virus is consistently rising at record rates you are abolishing a rule that was created when the virus wasn’t this bad. This is reckless and concerning.