The University of Oregon has made several adaptations to fall term in response to COVID-19. UO has also sent out emails and social media posts explaining how students can get COVID-19 tests before they leave campus.
UO offers expanded COVID-19 testing for students through the Monitoring and Assessment Program up until Thanksgiving break, which starts on Nov. 26. The university required students living in the residence halls to be tested the week of Nov. 16 before traveling home. Voluntary testing for off-campus students has been, and will be, available as capacity permits, on Nov. 20, 23 and 24.
Emily Enriquez, a UO student, lives off campus and plans to travel home to the Portland area after receiving a negative test result. Enriquez made the decision to get tested because she doesn’t want to put her family at risk, but she said that if she wanted to, she would be able to travel home without getting tested.
“The university is not controlling any of that for off-campus students, like we can go home without getting a test,” Enriquez said. “Most of the time it’s spreading, it’s not like people are sick and they go out, it’s because they don’t know they have it.”
Enriquez said that she is frustrated with how UO is handling testing for off-campus students and that she feels like they are forgotten by the university.
Kira Cadiz, who lives in the Pi Beta Phi chapter house, also plans to travel home to Hillsboro, Oregon, following a negative test result. Cadiz said she thinks she’s done a good job of limiting her exposure to COVID-19. However, she also wishes UO was doing more for students not living in the dorms.
“The university just seems to forget about people living off campus because they’re not bringing in as much money as freshmen living in the dorms,” Cadiz said. “I hear the university is getting a lot better with testing, but I wish they did more specifically for people living off campus.”
The university has been providing free testing opportunities for people living in congregate housing.
UO spokesperson Saul Hubbard said that the university has communicated with students about how to travel safely and take extra precautions to minimize their risk of both contracting and spreading COVID-19 during this time.
He said the university has also strongly emphasized that students should not travel if they have been diagnosed with COVID-19, are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms or have been exposed to a confirmed case.
“It is essential that students follow public health guidance and university directives for returning home safety,” Hubbard said. “Throughout fall term, the majority of our students have adhered to our COVID-19 safety measures and policies, day-in and day-out. We’re confident that will be the case for students traveling home safely as well, given that none of us want to be responsible for putting our family members and loved ones at risk.”
UO student McKenna Kennett is from San Diego and has decided not to travel home for Thanksgiving.
“I really need to keep working, because I was unemployed for so long because of COVID. I went through a lot of my savings during the spring and summer,” Kennett said. “Since everything is online I definitely would’ve just gone home and stayed home, but I need to work those two weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
Kennett also said that she usually doesn’t go home for Thanksgiving break since students only have two days off school, so it is not worth it for her to travel home. This year, however, COVID-19 was an added concern to traveling; Kennett said she didn’t want to fly and take the risk of getting infected.
Cadiz and Enriquez agree that traveling safely is important right now, and they both plan to take the necessary precautions to avoid spreading COVID-19 to their family.
Once students return to campus, UO will test everyone living in the residence halls, and students will need to stay isolated in their rooms until they receive their test results. For students living off campus, testing capacity will stay available.
“They should require [off-campus students] to get tested when we come back,” Enriquez said. “I know a lot of smaller schools, especially private ones, have more resources to allocate towards testing. I feel like the big state schools, as messed up as it sounds, have other priorities.”