The COVID Agenda
Written by Henry Haden ‘25
Edited and researched by Wilson Kasischke ‘25
We welcome you to enter into the life of a Washington and Lee student two years after Covid-19 arrived on American shores and almost everyone on campus is vaccinated. Covid paranoia is still being fueled by the administration. It is impossible to walk into a building without immediately being greeted by a sign saying, “Do Your Part. Wear A Mask. Residents and other University members are expected to wear a mask in all common areas.”
As you walk outside, through the colonnade or other outdoor areas, it is not uncommon to see countless students masked (sometimes double masked) as they walk alone across campus. Enter an academic building and literally everyone is masked. From day one, you will never see the faces of your classmates or professors. For those who need to see facial expressions to better understand emotions or pick up on social cues, tough luck. Care for a drink of water? Quickly pull down your recommended vacuum-style KN95 mask and take a sip – but don’t forget to put it back on as soon as possible.
Now, it’s time for lunch. You go with some friends to the dining hall, put on your mask to grab your food, and walk to the table. Fortunately, Covid will take its lunch break too, so you can eat your food normally for half an hour. But it is important that you put your mask on as you take the twenty-second walk out of the dining hall, or you are likely to be berated by a member of the dining staff.
After a satisfying meal, you go back to your dorm, where people do not wear masks, and attend a virtual class with people you just had lunch with 10 minutes ago. You might want to engage with your classmates or physically meet your professor for the first time. Again, tough luck. You hear about your friend Johnathan who has a slight cough. For the past century, people just covered their mouths, but thankfully you now know that as a healthy, vaccinated 19-year-old, based on university-induced fear of Covid and a remote possibility of risk, Jonathan must head straight to the health center for a Covid test.
Surprisingly, Johnathan tests negative, but while he was waiting on his test and started wearing a mask everywhere, he told Susan that he might have Covid. Susan just went for a five-mile hike with her friends and is about to see her triple-vaccinated parents over the weekend. She’s feeling great! But boosted Susan might have contracted Covid from boosted Johnathan. She gets a test and is positive. You don’t see Susan again for five days, and Susan’s loving parents who just flew in from San Francisco can’t see their daughter even though they know, as healthy fifty-year-olds, that they are not vulnerable to any Covid complications.
For many readers, I am sure this somewhat cheesy story, which is based on real experiences around campus this semester, seems overly contrived and unrealistic. I wish it was—but it isn’t. Notice in the story there was little resistance to any of the protocols. This almost dystopian reality has become entrenched across campus. The infamous, elusive Covid-19 Committee lacks transparency. Every time there is the slightest rise in Covid cases, for better or for worse, students can expect a sterile email from the COVID-19 Committee which acknowledges the situation while reaffirming their previous agenda and protocols, irrespective of important new developments that may contradict “The Science”.
Take last December’s booster shot mandate, for example. As I was spending time with my family, I received an email from the COVID-19 Committee:
“Due to the high transmissibility of the omicron variant, the new CDC guidance, and the expected surge of cases in our region in the coming weeks, the following changes to the university’s Covid precautions are effective immediately.
All students, faculty, and staff, except those who received exemptions to the vaccine requirement, are required to receive a Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 booster by January 31, 2022. We strongly encourage everyone to get a booster sooner than that, preferably before returning to campus, as boosters provide increased protection against infection and serious illness and close contacts who received their booster at least one week prior to exposure are not required to quarantine.”
This email caught me by surprise. Omicron was still fairly new on December 29th, and the committee had sent out an email several weeks prior saying that they were merely recommending boosters. Furthermore, the idea of fully vaccinated people having to quarantine because they didn’t get boosted seemed a little much, especially with the milder variant. Students subject themselves to far greater risks than Covid (especially Omicron) every day when they get behind the wheel or drink alcohol, but the key is letting people choose the risks they are willing to take. And the assertion that the booster would significantly prevent transmission was false at best.
As it became clearer that Omicron was a milder, yet highly transmissible variant, the university became increasingly authoritarian in its policy. Many classes and events went virtual, including Greek Life Recruitment, and students again had to wear masks in the gym whether running or lifting. If this wasn’t already enough, first-years received an email asking them to do the following:
“Please avoid intoxication as any assistance required puts unnecessary additional strain on the support systems. Just to clarify – everyone regardless of vaccination status should be wearing masks in all indoor common spaces (lounges, laundry, kitchens, bathrooms, halls, etc.) and if visiting a personal space other than your own right now. Please help to uphold these community expectations and appreciate residential life staff and public safety who are doing the same.”
Suddenly, it becomes necessary to wear a mask alone in the bathroom. Never mind the fact that 98.3% of undergraduate students, 95.7% of employees, and 98.2% of law students are fully vaccinated (based on severely outdated numbers from August). What’s the point of getting vaccinated if you have to follow protocols that are just as strict as those for the unvaccinated, of whom there are very few on campus? Yet the COVID-19 Committee continued to push booster shots irrespective of the mild nature of Omicron in an email on January 11th, saying, “Though not required until Jan. 31, we strongly encourage everyone to get a booster as soon as possible as boosters provide increased protection against infection and serious illness.” As the January 31st deadline approached to get the booster, the university never changed course. On January 29th, at a time when presumably most students had already been boosted, the university finally admitted that it could no longer keep track of the virus through contact tracing:
“Omicron is currently the most common variant and is spreading so rapidly it is no longer productive or possible to track contacts of positive cases. Fortunately, because the Covid vaccines and boosters are highly effective, and our campus community is highly vaccinated and boosted, most of our students and employees who have been infected with Omicron are experiencing mild symptoms. However, we must continue to take care of the most vulnerable members of our community and will keep the current masking policy in place for the time being.”
The booster is not optimal for preventing transmission, as Covid continues to spread to the boosted and vaccinated alike. Further, the vast majority of students are likely to experience mild symptoms with Omicron regardless of vaccination. When will the indefinite masking end? How do you define the most vulnerable members of the community when most are vaccinated? The administration cannot singlehandedly stop the spread of an endemic virus that is just as prevalent throughout the county as it is on campus. And why should students get tested when they have limited or no interaction with the most vulnerable anyway? Adult college students should be able to assess their own risk and personal health and act accordingly.
Before the announcement of the booster mandate, the COVID-19 Committee sent out an email lauding their belief in vaccination as the most effective measure to prevent transmission. The committee then went on to say that they would be offering prizes to students who received and reported boosters:
“We continue to believe our campus community’s high vaccination rate is the most effective measure to slow the spread of the virus, and strongly encourage all eligible students, faculty, and staff to get a Covid vaccine booster.
By reporting your COVID-19 booster into the Daily Attestation app and e-mailing a photo of your card to studenthealth@wlu.edu, you could win a 2021 Fancy Dress package or item of equivalent value from the University Store! W&L will do a daily drawing on weekdays from Jan. 3 to Jan. 31 from all students who have entered their booster in the Daily Attestation app.”
Consider the implications of this. If the committee thinks the opportunity to win a “Fancy Dress Package” is enough to persuade someone to get a booster, which at the time was fairly untested in the younger age groups, how little do they think of students? It's like telling a little boy to sit by giving him some Skittles. Students are not that gullible. How belittling is it to send out such an email suggesting that college students can only make health decisions based on short-term financial or material rewards?
What about the future? Will the students be forced to get a new vaccine once one is developed and claims greater effectiveness? What about the long-term effects of these vaccines on our bodies? At what point do the potential risks for injecting experimental vaccines into our bodies cause more harm than good? What level of risk is acceptable? These are questions we should ask ourselves and urge the COVID-19 Committee to strongly consider. Unfortunately, many of us do not know what happens in those committee meetings. They continually send out ultimatums while failing to justify decisions outside of vague references to CDC guidelines that are meant to apply to the general population, not a community that is nearly 100% vaccinated and quite young. Rarely do they respond to criticisms or complaints.
What is the solution? The answer lies within the purported values of this institution: lending responsibility and accountability to the students. Here are our five suggestions:
No vaccine mandate or different treatment based on vaccination status.
Professor's discretion on masks in the classroom.
No mask mandates in predominantly student areas (Ex. Library, Hallways, Dining Hall).
Testing for symptomatic individuals through the Honor System. No arrival testing.
Respect those who choose not to wear a mask as you would those who do.
To change the present campus climate, we must work as alumni, faculty, staff, administrators, and students. Consider reaching out to the Committee at covid19@wlu.edu.