As of Oct. 30, according to scdhec.gov, there are 167,057 positive COVID-19 cases in South Carolina.
While public universities in South Carolina like the University of South Carolina, Clemson and College of Charleston are requiring COVID-19 testing for on-campus residents, and in some cases all students, faculty and staff, Winthrop University is not mandating COVID-19 testing for anyone on campus, although they strongly advise testing for those who show symptoms or have experienced exposure.
An online survey conducted by The Johnsonian was sent out to the faculty, staff and student populations asking if respondents believe Winthrop should mandate COVID-19 testing. Of the 250 responses so far, 51.6 percent said they do think WU should mandate COVID-19 testing for all faculty, staff and students.
Emma Crouch, a freshman integrated marketing and communications major, responded that she does believe WU should enforce consistent COVID-19 testing. “I think it would be a good idea to ensure consistent COVID testing to ensure everyone’s safety. Even if it wasn’t at the school, everyone giving a positive or negative test result will make it easier to ensure that everyone will be okay and cause less of an outbreak,” Crouch said.
Because COVID-19 testing is costly and involves a lot of resources Winthrop is unable to provide at this time, another option could the requirement of students to acquire testing elsewhere, whether that be at DHEC’s pop-up location at the Winthrop coliseum or in another testing facility of one’s choosing off-campus.
“I don’t personally believe that the testing should be mandated for everyone because firstly I would assume there are a finite number of tests. Secondly, a test only really gives you information about that moment.” Austin Curtis, a senior exercise science major, said. “For instance, if someone tests negative, they could easily come into contact with the virus moments later. So, the test would give someone a somewhat false sense of security. I would also have to know the efficacy of the test I’ve been given. I wouldn’t like to get a false positive test and fall behind in class because of that. If anyone has symptoms and would like to get tested, I would advocate for them to get a test, but I do think that mandating testing may be a little too much.”
Victoria Belk, a sophomore Psychology major, responded that she does not believe WU should mandate testing. “I think mandating testing should only be used if Winthrop is having a spike in COVID cases around campus. I think there are steps that are just precautionary (like masks), and then some steps are a little unnecessary (in this case, I think that would be mandating testing). The idea of having testing for those living in dorms would be a little less extreme, but I would disagree on testing all students and faculty consistently,” said Belk.
An anonymous response on the survey who marked that they do not believe WU should mandate testing wrote, “I honestly feel like Winthrop has done a lot to make the campus as safe as possible while still opening up the school.”
According to Winthrop’s COVID-19 Dashboard, there has not been a spike in positive cases on campus, although some do not trust the data presented on the dashboard.
An anonymous participant in the survey who responded that they do believe WU should mandate testing wrote, “We need to stay off campus as much as possible until the university has an implemented plan to really test, trace, and report. The current dashboard is a joke.”
Others in Winthrop’s student body believe that requiring testing is not necessary but think that the university could be doing more to ensure safety in the classroom.
“I’ve shared with my professors [at Winthrop] that according to the CDC, there is evidence showing that if you open up a window and a door, that helps [in decreasing the spread of the virus], but there has been no action.” Maureen Clary, a junior accounting major, said.
Some students shared in the survey that they believe Winthrop is not doing enough to encourage students to be honest with their results, should they come back positive.
“Forcing students to quarantine at home also discourages students from getting tested, resulting in the continuous spread of unknown positive cases.” Mary Poston, a freshman English major, said.
Winthrop University has made great strides in promoting a safe and healthy campus environment. Many have an optimistic outlook towards the data shown on the dashboard, while others are weary of a looming spike in South Carolina’s COVID-19 data and hope that the university will be able to enforce testing should there be a rise in cases.
With South Carolina’s positivity rate above five percent, required testing may already be widely desired according to 51.6 percent of a sample of Winthrop’s faculty, staff and student populations.
