UGA Community Anticipates Future of Campus Life After COVID-19

As vaccines continue to roll out, nobody can anticipate what campus life will look like next fall. Classes might return to full capacity, but not everyone will be vaccinated. Students and professors wonder: is it too soon to return to “normal”?

A few months after the COVID-19 vaccines rolled out nationwide, university students received the green light to take it. Some universities, like the University of Georgia, have even announced an expectation that life on campus will return to normal next year. But even with the vaccine and a decline in cases, is it too soon to ease the mask mandate?

“So mask wearing isn’t going away. Even if everybody gets vaccinated until we reach some kind of a of, you know, of a herd immunity,” said Dr. Fred Quinn. Quinn is the head of infectious diseases at UGA and worked at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for 13 years before his current position.

According to the CDC’s website, people who have been vaccinated should continue taking precautions, like mask wearing and social distancing. People become fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving both doses of either Moderna or Pfizer, or one dose of Johson & Johnson.

“We got vaccines in the mix, faster than we’ve ever had. And they seem to be safe and efficacious. So we’ll get to that [herd immunity] It’s not going to be because of deaths and infections. It’s going to be because of vaccinations,” said Quinn.

However, lots of questions have been asked about the safety of the vaccines. People have raised concerns about the long-term effects of it.

Dr. Quinn feels confident in the vaccines and their development. People have questioned the safety of the vaccines since they were developed so quickly.

“This is record time, because normally, to get to those all those safety and efficacy trials, it takes years. And the fact that they were able to do it in months has a lot to do with the platform. But also, it has to do with, we’re in kind of a tough spot here,” said Quinn.

On April 13, the CDC and Federal Drug Administration paused administration of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine after several people had severe reactions to it. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are still being administered.

After fall semester, UGA saw a decrease in cases. The coronavirus spread like wildfire through campus the first few weeks, but after students’ quarantine period, they returned to their nightlife and in-person classes, with the assumed protection of the antibodies.

However, not everyone supports the vaccine. In August, the school will have to consider the safety of those students who are not vaccinated. University faculty are already planning ahead for the anticipated return of a normal class schedule.

“I’m hopeful that things will be primarily back to normal in the fall,” said Dr. Glen Nowak. “And I say that because they’re cautiously optimistic that we will have a large number of people vaccinated, including faculty and students.”

The university health center is currently offering vaccines to students, by appointment.

“I think maybe some uncertainty in larger classes, and particularly larger classes in rooms that may not accommodate physical distancing, whether we’re able to return those to normal or whether those still have to have some kind of a hybrid component. I think it’s too early to know,” said Nowak.

However, some students are ready to get back to the pre-pandemic normal. Carson Soliday, a freshman at UGA, has yet to experience what college classes are really like.

Carson Soliday is finishing up her freshman year at UGA and like many others, has never experienced what college is really like.

“Georgia has been like if you need to do hybrid, you totally can if you don’t feel safe,” said Soliday. “But then I have this class where you absolutely have to be in-person. And attendance is a grade. I love going in-person, but I can see how a lot of people just might not feel safe.”

UGA was willing to let students return to campus and be exposed to the virus despite many universities being shut down for the 2020 fall semester. So students can assume UGA will move forward with their return to normalcy despite the absence of a fully vaccinated campus and a pandemic looming in the background.