Five Colleges adopt new policies to prevent COVID-19 spread

Photo by Rosemary Geib ’23.
Pictured above, Smith College’s Campus Center, where students test for COVID-19 twice weekly.

By Anoushka Kuswaha ’24 & Tara Monastesse ’25

News Editors

With the COVID-19 pandemic looming over the world since 2020, many institutions have strived to manage a “normal” working life while still maintaining the health, safety and well-being of their communities. This is applicable to each institution in the Five College Consortium, all of which are working within their respective communities to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. 

For the Mount Holyoke College administration, controlling the spread of COVID-19 was about continuing to care for one another as a community, as stated in a letter from the Health and Safety Committee published on Sept. 14. Smith College described its continuation of its COVID-19 preventative measures as “build[ing] on [the] success” of previous years, as written on their website’s COVID-19 policy page. 

While each Five College community has taken measures to accommodate the third year of the pandemic, their strategies have varied. Some of the colleges within the consortium have also rapidly shifted their policies as the academic year commenced. Smith College’s current policy of mandatory twice-a-week asymptomatic testing contrasts their anticipated Fall 2022 COVID-19 policy from an Aug. 1 letter to the community, which did not forecast requiring asymptomatic testing.

Currently, all members of the Consortium also require mask-wearing indoors, with the exception of the University of Massachusetts Amherst whose policy is described as “mask welcome.” All of the Five Colleges also require community members to be up to date on vaccination boosters. 

Members of the Consortium have gradually gone back to weekly mandated testing for asymptomatic students. Hampshire College and Smith College are both mandating twice-weekly testing until further notice, as per the institutions’ COVID-19 policy websites. UMass Amherst readily offers symptomatic testing to all of their students, with a charge going to the student’s health insurance, as per the university’s Public Health’s Preparation website, last updated on Aug. 17, 2022. 

Like Mount Holyoke College, some members of the Five College Consortium — UMass Amherst, Mount Holyoke College, Amherst College — are also advising their students to isolate in place should they test positive for COVID-19 and cannot arrange off-campus isolation housing, as stated by each institution’s COVID-19 informational websites. 

Amherst College has been operating at level one of its four Campus Operating Status Levels, described as “Enhanced COVID-19 Precautions,” since Aug. 12.

Amherst College currently maintains a publicly-available COVID-19 dashboard on its website, which displays active cases from students, staff and faculty. Free COVID-19 testing at Amherst College has remained optional for students beyond the initial test administered to students upon moving back onto campus. 

As of Sept. 13, a KN95 mask is required on Amherst’s campus in most indoor spaces, including classrooms, dining locations and the COVID-19 Testing Center.

“It’s really nice, because the college is distributing [KN95 masks] for free,” said Anna Leake, a junior at Amherst College, in an interview with Mount Holyoke News. She noted, however, that the mask requirement is sometimes enforced inconsistently outside of the classroom, stating that “It doesn’t seem as hard and fast a rule as it has been in previous years.”

“I’m happy that we’ve — in some ways — been able to transition back to pre-COVID times,” said Leake. “But I’m also wondering if we’re doing it too quickly, or at least without enough clarity as to what the rules are.” 

““I’m happy that we’ve — in some ways — been able to transition back to pre-COVID times. But I’m also wondering if we’re doing it too quickly.”
”

— Anna Leake

Mount Holyoke’s mask mandate, originally slated to last until Sept. 16, has been extended to at least Sept. 30. In a letter to the community issued on Sept. 14, the Health and Safety Committee attributed the decision to “a high volume of COVID-19 student cases currently being managed by our campus health center.”

An email to the College community on Wednesday Sept. 21 identified 51 known cases among students, as well as 4 among employees. These numbers were stated to reflect the previous 7 days, and will be updated weekly in future “MHC This Week” emails.

“I definitely think they should bring back testing at least once a week, and isolation housing for people with roommates,” Sophie Simon ’25, a student who recently tested positive for COVID-19, said in an interview. Simon, who was unable to receive a free PCR test on campus due to having outside insurance, instead obtained her results from a local pharmacy. “There isn’t a lot of accessibility for testing right now, and if they’re going to get rid of the mandatory weekly testing, they should at least give you access to rapid tests. I think that would definitely prevent the surge in [COVID-19] cases that are happening, especially now, just so people know earlier on that they have [COVID-19], or that they’re spreading it.”

Currently, students on the College’s health insurance plan can obtain up to eight self-test COVID-19 kits every 30 days.

Students navigate new COVID-19 testing guidelines as they arrive to the College

Photo by Rosemary Geib ’23.
Blue signs posted around campus direct arriving students and guests through the move in process.

By Anoushka Kuswaha ’24 and Tara Monastesse ’25 

News Editors

Content warning: This article discusses ableism.

Over the summer break, the Mount Holyoke College community waited to see how the pandemic would impact the community’s modes of learning and lifestyle on campus this semester. The impact would begin with how the community would approach its campus move-in process for the 2022-2023 academic year. 

A July 28 letter to the community from Interim President Beverly Daniel Tatum announced that three-layer face masks would be required within indoor campus spaces until Sept. 16. This date was later extended to Sept. 30 as noted by The Health and Safety Committee in a Sept. 14 letter to the community. The July update also requested that residential students receive a negative test result within 24 hours before their move-in time. For students unable to provide third-party documentation of a negative test result, on-campus testing was made available upon arrival.

Students interviewed by Mount Holyoke News about their move-in experience primarily chose to utilize the on-campus testing option to obtain a COVID-19 test. The opportunity to test on campus was particularly convenient for some, as the limited testing time of 24 hours made it difficult to receive a test at surrounding pharmacies while coordinating travel to campus, Emily Jones ’23 expressed. 

Some students were wary of the delay to the move-in process that was advertised on the Fall 2022 Move-In website, should they choose to get tested on campus. Felix Lawton ’24 expressed initial reservations about getting tested on campus for this reason. Lawton was also concerned with getting tested within the required timeframe, but voiced how the availability of testing on campus made the move-in process go “smoothly.” 

Jones also voiced interest in getting tested before arriving on campus to quicken her move-in process but was unable to do so as the nearby pharmacy where she sought out a test no longer offered [COVID-19] tests. 

“I got tested when I came to campus, and that was such an easy process,” said Talya Denis ’24, a resident of Creighton Hall. “I just decided to do it at the school. I thought it would be easier.”

While biweekly asymptomatic testing is no longer required for students, as was College policy during the previous academic year, symptomatic testing is still available upon request through College Health Services. 

However, it did not escape students’ attention that out-of-school testing was a non-feasible option. “I called a local Walgreens near campus but they said they weren’t doing [COVID-19] testing,” explained Jones when discussing why she had to get tested on campus. 

The lack of testing available prior to the beginning of the school year indicates that it could become increasingly difficult for students to access testing outside of the campus as the year progresses, and has raised concerns for health safety among students. “I wish the College had more options to get tested for [COVID-19]. The only way to get tested is if you have symptoms but I’m concerned about the spread of [COVID-19] without regular testing.” expressed Jones. This sentiment was echoed by Lawton who said “I think especially in light of the school not testing asymptomatic students for [COVID-19] anymore … that I am less comfortable with the idea of not having required masking … [COVID-19]-19 has only gotten more contagious and still poses a serious risk to immunocompromised students here on campus.” 

During Fall 2021 move in, residential students with guests were asked to provide the information of up to two guests in advance. This year, residential students were not required to register outside guests assisting with move-in, nor was there a stated limit to the number of guests allowed per student. There remained, however, a requirement for all guests accompanying a student to wear a face covering whenever they occupied a residence hall building.

The Office of Residential Life also released updated guidelines to the campus guest policy, including for overnight guest stays, in an email to residential students on Sept. 4. The only requirement is for student hosts to fill out and submit the Guest Registration Form prior to their guests’ arrival, affirming that they are either fully vaccinated or have received a negative COVID-19 test result within the last 48 hours. No additional steps are required after this point. The current maximum number of overnight days for each visitor is 14 days per semester, with no stay exceeding five consecutive days.

Mount Holyoke reinstates isolation in place policy

By Mariam Keita ’24

Managing Editor of Web

On Friday, April 22, the Division of Student Life announced in an email to students that the College will once again ask residential students who test positive for COVID-19 to shelter in place within their residence halls starting on April 25. 

The decision to reinstate the isolate in place policy comes from an upward trend in positive testing rates over the last few weeks. 

According to the email, this policy will affect those students who live alone or are currently rooming with a student who has tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 90 days. Students who reside within three hours of campus and have a private vehicle will be asked to isolate at home. 

Alex Moreno ’22 was one of the first student at Mount Holyoke who was asked to isolate in place in their residential hall upon testing positive for COVID-19 when they arrived back on campus for ResLife training during winter break prior to the start of the Spring 2022 semester. 

“I tested positive [for COVID-19] literally the day I got to campus,” Moreno said. “I had taken a PCR at home. Because of the delays … the PCR that was supposed to come back in 24 hours took four days.”

Moreno, who works as a residential fellow, was in a Zoom training session for ResLife when they got the alert that they had tested positive. Upon receiving the alert, they immediately sent a text message to their area coordinator in ResLife asking what their next steps should be. 

“[My area coordinator was] like, ‘I’ll get back to you. You should call a health center.’” Moreno said.

Upon calling Health Services, Moreno’s phone call was sent to a voicemail box which relayed the message that the center was closed for several days. The voicemail then directed Moreno towards a number to call in case of an emergency. 

 “I was like, ‘Okay, I feel like I really need to talk. COVID[-19] like, that feels kind of serious.’ So I call them and then … [the person on the emergency line was] like well this isn’t an emergency so call at a different time and then they hung up on me. Yeah, they were just so mean,” Moreno recalled.

Having had yet to hear back from anyone as to what their next steps could or should be, Moreno described feeling uncertain about what to do. 

Eventually, Moreno received a call back from a Health Services employee during which they were presented with two options: opt into a quarantine and isolation housing space in one of the apartments on campus, or participate in the pilot launch of a new isolation program. 

Since Moreno’s room as a residential fellow contains a private bathroom, they were offered the chance to remain in their room. However, Moreno was given a caveat along with this option — they would be responsible for coordinating having all of their meals delivered to their door, because Dining Services employees were unable to enter residential buildings. 

“I chose to stay in my room just because I had also just moved back from Hampshire. I needed to unpack. I needed to be in my room. I couldn’t just leave all my stuff.” Moreno said. 

Moreno further explained that they were only asked to isolate in place for about three days, as Health Services was following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines in counting the date that they received the first positive PCR test result as the beginning of their five-day contagion window.