Weekly Briefing: What Omicron's Rise Means for Your Campus

Wherever this newsletter finds you, Omicron is probably nearby. Is your college changing its policies? ADVERTISEMENT [Weekly Briefing Logo]( Did someone forward you this newsletter? [Sign up free]( to receive your own copy. Omicron is here. Now what? Wherever this newsletter finds you, Omicron is probably nearby. The Omicron variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 is more contagious than its predecessors. Though cases have started to decline in some areas, they are still rising in many states. College campuses in those states are often no exception. But today’s pandemic isn’t as simple (yes, simple; stay with me here) as some things were in 2020, back when the coronavirus first swept colleges. Today, experts know more about the virus, and many colleges either have vaccine mandates or have highly vaccinated populations. This makes decision-making more complicated, especially with a more-transmissible variant afoot. The practices you’ve read about and very likely experienced, like quick pivots to online learning, widespread testing, and on-campus quarantines, may not suffice anymore. What do we do now? Our Francie Diep spoke with public-health experts about how colleges should handle the newest normal. They said that even though Omicron is often a milder version of the coronavirus, it’s still important to prevent infections. And a world where Covid-19 becomes endemic, or relatively stable and predictable, may be coming. Experts told Francie that when colleges prevent the virus from spreading, with tactics like campus mask mandates, mandatory isolation, and improved ventilation, it helps those who are more vulnerable to Covid-19. Also, when the virus infects a new person, there’s a chance that it can mutate. So more infections mean increased possibilities for new variants. Still, many colleges are moving ahead with their plans to continue in-person learning. Some public colleges are limited in what Covid-prevention plans they can mandate, because of state laws. In these cases, reducing infection comes down to personal choices. Other colleges are doubling down, with stricter prevention policies. But sometimes those processes break down. Take Stanford University, which ran out of on-campus isolation spaces. Students who tested positive were moved to off-campus apartments or told to stay in their dorms and use Covid-19 bathrooms, according to [The Stanford Daily]( In the early days of the pandemic, Duke University’s testing plan[was a]( college-campus testing. Duke pooled several coronavirus tests before analyzing them. To find out who’s infected, only the few pools that turn up positive had to be individually tested, saving the campus on testing chemicals. However, this method loses efficiency when about 5 percent of samples turn up positive, Thomas Denny, chief operating officer of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, told Francie. At that point, he said, administrators are individually retesting so many pools that they’re not saving resources anymore. Duke is getting close to that number, and it’s considering making testing voluntary. Though an endemic future may be on the horizon, experts are unsure about when that future will get here. Until then, colleges have to navigate another complicated “new normal.” [Read Francie’s full story here](. SPONSOR CONTENT | The University of sydney [Learn how two new approaches are revolutionizing the treatment of addiction.]( ADVERTISEMENT Lagniappe. - Learn. If you can’t find everything on your list at the grocery story lately, [you’re not alone](. (NPR) - Read. This is what happens when a kidnap negotiator’s wife[is kidnapped](. (The Wall Street Journal) - Listen. I’m about two months late, but [the podcast]( Story]( is an investigative series about what can go wrong in the underground world of psychedelics and therapy. 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