UNC is planning on welcoming back students and faculty for the fall 2020 semester, but how will life at Carolina look under the threat of COVID-19?
Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz, athletic director Bubba Cunningham and other prominent members of the UNC community appeared on 60 Minutes on Sunday to discuss how the university is reopening amid the virus outbreak.
“We’re not gonna bring students, faculty, staff back onto a campus where we don’t believe it’s a safe environment,” said Guskiewicz. “There certainly is some risk, but we believe we’re putting in place the right measures to mitigate that risk.”
In May, UNC announced its roadmap for the fall semester which includes beginning and ending classes early. This allows students to return home before a potential second wave of COVID-19 in the winter.
In addition, classes will be downsized and disinfecting will be common in athletic facilities, dormitories and classrooms. Two dormitories will be set aside to quarantine students in the event of an outbreak. Face coverings will also be required from students.
“We require that the students in the classroom will wear a mask, that the professor will be some distance away from the students and the professor will wear a mask,” said Dr. Myron Cohen, director of UNC’s institute for global health and infectious diseases. “So we intend our classrooms to be 100 percent masked.”
When asked, Cohen said he recognized the difficulty in asking college-aged students to not congregate and wear face coverings at all times.
“The entire campus will be trying to create environments where people are incredibly socially responsible,” Cohen said. “Humans are smart. Okay, these students are smart.”
UNC’s plan for returning student-athletes to campuses involves the rigorous procedure of testing everyone for coronavirus — including players, coaches and staff.
“Well we’re certainly hopeful that there will be football,” said Cunningham. “So we’ve begun a phase program of bringing back our student-athletes, including football.”
The first group of UNC football players returned to campus on June 12 for coronavirus testing. As of Monday, the university has not revealed if any player or staff member has tested positive.
Guskieiwcz acknowledged that the university would be in a difficult situation financially if it did not reopen.
“We would’ve been challenged financially to not reopen,” said Guskiewicz. “We know that many students would’ve perhaps taken a gap year or to defer their enrollment. But I want to emphasize that our decisions are based on creating that learning environment for students, where we know they can thrive and building in all of these measures for safety.”
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