Winthrop University students are starting another semester while following guidelines to slow the spread of Covid-19.
Before classes started this fall, Winthrop made the decision to require masks in campus buildings with an exception in dorm rooms in residence halls.
“I personally think that the masks are okay right now, but it is a little weird to see so many people without them while outside, especially when they pass extremely close to you,” said sophomore special education major Tara Ann Goodwin.
Many residence halls such as Courtyard and Lee Wicker have disposable masks available for students who have misplaced, lost or forgotten their masks.
“I often see a lot of people with their masks down, but I only believe that it is because there isn’t always someone there to watch over them. I have seen RA’s tell people to pull their masks up, so they are doing all they can,” said sophomore exercise science major Triston Morgan.
Although the vaccine has become widely available, students were not required to be vaccinated to come back to campus. However, vaccinated students were required to submit their vaccination card that displayed full vaccination while non-vaccinated students were required to submit a negative covid test.
In Winthrop’s initiative to get more students vaccinated on campus, students were able to attend the mobile clinics that traveled to the residence halls earlier this month. Additionally, DHEC has held vaccination events on campus that allow students to receive the vaccine of their choice for free.
“It is really cool to see how much the university is making it easy for students to get the vaccine and try to stop the spread of covid,” said sophomore mass communication major Darren Frasier.
During the 2020-2021 school year, guests were not permitted into residence halls. This semester, Residence Life has allowed students to have guests in their residence halls.
“I like the guest policy and I don’t like the guest policy. I want to be able to have friends over but also that’s allowing for the big possibility of covid numbers increasing” Goodwin said.
While it appears that Winthrop is making efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19, the University’s protocols have not proven to be infallible.
“I think there’s a lot of things that Winthrop could do better” Goodwin said. “My suitemate was sent home for covid, and it took Winthrop three days to contact her to make sure she actually went home, and she still had issues with her attendance after she got back to campus.”
Although Winthrop has room to improve in handling covid on campus, it is also the student’s responsibility to keep campus safe and healthy through the COVID-19 guidelines in place.
