Ratty Blankets & Forgotten Meals: Inside Penn State’s COVID-19 Isolation Complex
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Erica Blaze’s stomach loudly growled as she lied down on thin, brittle sheets in a stuffy dorm room. For the third time in a week, Penn State’s Residence Life and Food Services employees forgot to deliver her dinner.
Good food — or any, for that matter — is hard to come by when you’re quarantined at Eastview Terrace, the university’s lavish single-room housing complex where students who test positive for COVID-19 go to isolate and recover.
Blaze, a junior studying civil engineering, is one of more than 5,000 Penn State students who contracted the virus last fall. She said her mandatory two-week isolation period resembled a jail sentence more than anything else.
“They gave me just a top sheet and a ratty blanket,” Blaze said. “They were supposed to drop off food twice a day, but at least three times, no one came to bring meals for me. I needed to call the front desk myself just to get fed.”
Blaze, 21, tested positive in mid-September after coming into close contact with a friend’s roommate who unknowingly had the virus. She said COVID-19 slowly spread through the eight-person friend group until all but one person contracted it.
As a result, Blaze said she encountered symptoms including a spiking fever, a “super-sore” throat, and a wicked cough. She also couldn’t keep any food down for more than a week. Coupled with preexisting asthma and a high risk for bacterial infections, the symptoms had Blaze worrying how she’d fare cut off from the world.
“When I needed medicine dropped off, they had me registered under the wrong room,” Blaze said. “I kept thinking to myself, ‘If something happens to me in here, who’s going to know?’”
One of Blaze’s closest friends at Penn State, Chloe Bear, kept in touch with her throughout her isolation period to check in and offer any help. She noted Blaze’s symptoms seemed far more severe than she’d expected.
“Erica’s fever really concerned me, especially when it’s paired with her [asthma],” Bear said. “We weren’t sure how she’d do all alone for two weeks.”
Fortunately, Blaze found support through Penn State’s University Health Services. Virtually, advice nurses and support lines instructed her on taking medications, gave tips for riding out the virus’s symptoms, and simply provided her someone to talk to.
“You hear so much about COVID-19 and preventing it, but once you have it, I had no idea what was best,” Blaze said. “UHS nurses were life-savers. They were like my best friends [that week].”
Blaze and her roommate, Jazmyn Clark, tested positive for COVID-19 days apart. Although they began isolating at different times, both agreed Eastview Terrace’s support was “practically nonexistent.”
When it was time to check out, for example, Blaze found no one at the front desk. She needed to scour the halls for what felt like an hour before stumbling upon a staffer who could help her out. Clark, meanwhile, searched four floors before finding a storage cart to move her belongings.
Once the roommates were freed, they celebrated as any college student would: hitting the town. Blaze and Clark got their nails done at a salon and treated themselves to a “fancy” meal at The Field.
“It was really nice to get out and do something fun and enjoyable after such a difficult period,” Clark said.
Even though living at Eastview Terrace was often intolerable, Blaze said accommodating professors kept her afloat when all she could do was catch up on homework and “stare at the wall.” Two instructors even moved exams back for her.
“It was nice having that support from them, which made this whole experience bearable,” Blaze said.
In her spare time, Blaze is a teaching assistant for one of her past engineering professors. While she was in isolation, he offered to drop off meals and pick up medications for her.
Moving forward, Blaze said her experience should help her take more consistent precautions against the virus. She advised Penn State students to keep wearing masks, social distancing, and “being smart.”
“I didn’t want to get COVID-19, but then I did,” Blaze said. “Now, I want to help make sure other people don’t get it, either.”
