Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
COVID On Campus: Chaos
AP: SUNY Plattsburgh Punishes 43 Students After Packed Party
SUNY Plattsburgh officials suspended 43 students Wednesday after a party on Lake Champlain, becoming the latest school to clamp down on students violating rules designed to limit the spread of the coronavirus. College officials said the students violated campus health and safety policies when they gathered at the closed Sailor’s Beach park in Plattsburgh on Friday. Police said students failed to socially distance and very few, if any, wore face coverings. (8/27)
ABC News: University Of Notre Dame Changes 'Battle Plan' After Rise In COVID-19 Cases
Before arriving on campus at the University of Notre Dame earlier this month, nearly all undergraduate and graduate students took COVID-19 tests. More than 11,800 tests yielded 33 positive cases, for a positivity rate of 0.28%. By Aug. 18, eight days after classes started, the campus had 147 confirmed cases and a positivity rate of nearly 16%. The cases had overwhelmed the school's testing and isolation measures and put the remainder of the fall semester in jeopardy, school officials said. That day, the university announced that undergraduate students would be going virtual for at least two weeks. (Deliso, 8/27)
The Washington Post: Virginia Tech Football Season Opener Against North Carolina State Postponed Due To Coronavirus
Virginia Tech’s football game against North Carolina State, originally the season opener for both schools, is being moved following 22 new positive cases in the Wolfpack’s athletic department amid the novel coronavirus pandemic. The game had been set for Sept. 12 in Blacksburg, Va., but will be played Sept. 26, previously an open weekend for both schools, meaning the Hokies open the season against Virginia on Sept. 19 at Lane Stadium. (Wang, 8/26)
The Washington Post: Cornell Students Petition For TikTok Star Jessica Zhang's Expulsion For Flouting Covid Rules
[At] Cornell University, it’s the students who are becoming the most vocal enforcers of coronavirus-era rules. “Jessica Zhang has shown that she does not care to comply to public safety measures and wants to put other citizens at risk for the sake of her own entertainment,” reads an online petition from a “Concerned Student Coalition” that had gathered nearly 2,000 signatures by Wednesday night. It says Zhang — a freshman who happens to be a TikTok star with more than half a million followers — should be expelled for flouting coronavirus precautions while partying. (Knowles, 8/26)
The New York Times: Tracking Coronavirus Cases At U.S. Colleges And Universities
As college students and professors return to campus in the midst of a pandemic, coronavirus cases are turning up by the thousands. A New York Times survey of more than 1,500 American colleges and universities — including every four-year public institution, every private college that competes in N.C.A.A. sports and others that identified cases — has revealed at least 26,000 cases and 64 deaths since the pandemic began. (8/26)
