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AU and Covid



I see from the news that the newest Covid variant (BA.5) is spreading and likely to cause trouble. It’s supposed to be easier to catch and less affected by immunization. (And we all thought that the pandemic was behind us!)

What you should do

The rules are much the same as they have been for a couple of years now:

  • Keep practicing social distancing. (Personal note: I was stuck in an airplane in the Orlando airport for two hours while the airline tried to find us a pilot. Sure enough, a week later I had all the symptoms of a mild Covid infection—exhaustion, cough, and muscle aches.)
  • Keep washing your hands. The structure of the virus requires a grease molecule to bind it to your cells, so common soap and water is a surprisingly good defense.
  • We should probably go back to masks, especially in places such as church or classrooms where a lot of people are packed together. (I wouldn’t be surprised if the university comes up with a mask mandate for the fall semester.)
  • Above all, get immunized. It’s safe, it’s free, and it’s the best defense we have. Ask your health care provider if you can get the booster.

AU the last time around

The college was very thorough and diligent about taking care of us and making plans to keep students and faculty safe. One problem that might not be so obvious is that older adults are most at risk for the worst effects of Covid, and that would include many of our faculty members.

When Covid first hit, Ashland County suffered a lot, primarily due to low immunization rates. Ashland University put a wide variety of defenses in place (distance education for many of our courses, disinfecting surfaces, social distancing, testing, quarantines, etc.) and the result was that we did far better than the surrounding community at keeping our people safe. It wasn’t fun; it was annoying and all of us wished we could go back to the year 2010 and do college that way. But the bottom line is that we need to protect the health and safety of our academic community.

As I write this, I haven’t heard anything from the university about Covid precautions for the fall, but the best advice is

Keep watching your email!

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