The concept behind quarantining is simple: test positive for Covid-19, be in close contact with someone who has tested positive, or if feeling unwell, quarantine out of safety. However, everything that goes into actually being quarantined can create a web of different caring for students put into isolation. (change) Two students who had the experience of being quarantined on UNCG’s campus were interviewed to get their take on the level of care, quality of the housing, and the food.

Grace Wall, a sophomore and resident assistant, tested negative for the coronavirus, but the Student Health Center decided, she should be quarantined for a few days. She found her experience to be a bit of a bumpy ride, finding her living accommodations to be less than admirable. Another student, who wished to remain anonymous, did not have a good experience as well, from having to pay for Covid testing ($120), to finding the shower clogged with hair in the room given to him.

For some students, the food services provided were less than satisfactory. One student reported not having food their night despite getting in touch with people who said they would bring it to him. The same student reported being given microwavable popcorn without a microwave, an obvious conflict of interest. “In quarantine, you could only…get three meals a day and four snacks for each meal. Water being a snack, so you either had to sacrifice food for water or water for food. “

“I’m vegan, and they were really good about catering to that, but in terms of… being sick, a bowl of soup would have been nice.”

Grace Wall class of ’23

Maintaining course work was also a concern for many students going into quarantine. A lot of classes found ways to make up work or attend class meetings via an online format, but for Wall, one of her classes did not work around her predicament.

“One of the two just did not accommodate for me… I just was counted absent from that course; I was not allowed to attend online. They just did not want to do a Zoom meeting for the class, during class… My grades were not penalized, but I was counted absent, and I was only allowed one absence for the entire semester.”

Students interviewed also found issues with not only their bedding accommodations but also their living arrangements, being assigned to quarantine with another student unannounced.  “No blankets or anything. [There was] a weird styrofoam material that I think was maybe meant to be a blanket, but I really couldn’t tell what it was… I was not notified I would be given a little quarantine buddy. Someone just walked into the apartment one day while I was there, and I didn’t know who it was or why they were there. No one had told me that someone else was going to come quarantine with me… They would walk around in the kitchen and common areas with no mask on. “

“I would hope that the Student Health Center would not put… someone that they thought was positive with someone that they felt was negative, but like I said, I didn’t know anything about the situation.”

Grace Wall Class of ’23

While UNCG has done a great job of staying open and following pandemic guidelines, there is definitely room for improvement in terms of the quarantine conditions and level of communication between affected students and the university.

article written by Wesley Britt