Add the University of Missouri in Columbia to the list of colleges making dangerous decisions during the COVID-19 crisis.
On Friday, Boone County-Columbia officials said that 44.6% of the people tested from Aug. 21 to Aug. 27 were positive for coronavirus — an absolutely shocking and alarming rate. Think about that: Nearly one of every two people tested.
The goal is to have a positivity rate of 5% or below. The national positivity rate is about 6%. Anything higher than 15% is considered a serious hot zone.
So how is Missouri reacting?
“I didn’t expect this rise this fast,” Columbia-Boone County Public Health Director Stephanie Browning said. She announced a series of steps designed to curb the spread of the virus, including a ban on alcohol sales in bars after 9 p.m. and limited gatherings.
Not everyone is surprised by the numbers. Columbia is largely a college community, centered around the University of Missouri, where 30,000 students and 10,000 staff and faculty have recently returned to work.
The steps taken to slow the spread of the coronavirus on campus — masks and social distancing — aren’t working off campus. And we know why: Students go to bars and restaurants and homes late into the evening, without masks and without distancing. Voila — pandemic.
“That certainly is increasing our numbers,” Browning said. In the last week, COVID-19 cases for those 18 to 22 have jumped 220%, she said. Cases have doubled, then doubled again.
Mun Choi, MU chancellor and University of Missouri system president, seems unperturbed by these facts. “Students and young people in that age group do recover at a very high rate,” he said Friday.
What? The issue isn’t just how long it will take students to recover. COVID-19 can cause lasting damage to some, creating a lifetime of health problems. No one should pass off the coronavirus as a minor inconvenience, even for the young.
And students who catch COVID-19 can spread it to others — in Boone County, certainly, but to parents and relatives across the region. Note to Dr. Choi: Some students go home on weekends. Perhaps you’ve noticed.
Friday’s Boone County-Columbia coronavirus order caps attendance at sporting events at 100 people. Except for MU, of course, “which is an instrumentality of the state of Missouri,” the declaration says. Can’t forget football.
We’ve criticized decisions at the University of Kansas and Kansas State University to continue on-campus teaching and living. Several fraternity and sorority houses at KU are under quarantine. At K-State, athletes and students have tested positive, and the overall positive rate is nearly 10%.
The University of Missouri is not exempt from these concerns. It should transition to remote learning only, and consider closing dormitories and restricting off-campus fraternity and sorority housing. Football games should be postponed, and certainly crowds should be banned.
… Gov. Mike Parson should show leadership at this moment. He should publicly ask the school to shut its doors to in-person instruction until the virus is more under control.
