College Safety in a Changing World

College safety has always been a high priority. The COVID-19 pandemic is going to change the way we all think about it before. Before the crisis, college students were taught ordinary safety measures. Young adults should travel in groups when they go out at night. Don’t leave parties with strangers. Put your school items in university lockers to keep them safe during the day. Typical, common-sense measures. 

Those are all steps students should take to keep themselves safe, there’s no doubt. Now, however, there are some new measures students should consider. Colleges and universities are already thinking about what they should do when students go back in the fall. 

Colleges Take Safety Measures

When fears of the outbreak began, institutions of higher learning started sending students home. Many of them began offering online courses as a way to keep everyone safe from the highly contagious coronavirus. Sadly, graduation ceremonies were canceled too. 

Some universities are considering another round of online courses in the fall as an extra precaution. Many students are speaking out against the plans and colleges have not decided what they’re going to do. If the campuses open again, the young adults who are obtaining their degrees should start to think about how they can keep themselves healthy. 

What Students Should Be Doing 

Regardless of what happens with COVID-19, many of the guidelines the CDC is recommending to stop the virus are things people should have been doing anyway. 

Good Hygiene

Washing their hands for at least 20 seconds isn’t something that just helps to protect them from COVID-19, it’s just a smart thing to do. The world is full of germs and people are constantly making contact with stuff other people have touched. Door handles, desks, common room furniture, library books, and a million other things that are never thought about. 

Every surface a person touches has germs on it. Students should wash or sanitize their hands multiple times a day to make sure they aren’t walking Petri dishes. 

Clean Dorm Rooms

According to studies, the average dorm room is pretty nasty. On average, women have 1.5 million colony-forming units (CFU) of bacteria per square inch in their rooms. Men are even worse. Swabs of the surfaces of male dorms showed 6 million CFU per square inch. Basically, dorms are hotbeds of gross. 

Students need to make disinfecting their rooms a top priority if they want to keep themselves healthy. 

Social Distancing Is Smart

The social aspect of college is absolutely critical. Students form bonds they’ll take with them for the rest of their lives. That doesn’t mean they have to be packed into rooms like sardines in a can. Social distancing, staying 6 feet apart, and avoiding massive crowds when possible, is a good way to stay safe. We aren’t saying go to another party or celebration, just take proper precautions.

Don’t Become a Super Spreader

If a student is sick, they need to keep themselves in their rooms. Sucking it up and going to class is a quick way to spread germs all over campus like a super spreader. Professors know students are going to fall ill, they have back-up plans so they can still learn. 

Use Common Sense

The coronavirus pandemic is changing the world. However, many of the steps that people are taking to slow the spread of the virus are things everyone should’ve been doing in the first place. These aren’t measures that students should only take when a virus is sweeping the globe. Cleaning rooms, washing hands, and keeping their illnesses to themselves are important life skills — and common sense.