Students Brace for Possible Delta Outbreak

Students at Champlain College are now fully immersed in classes and campus life for the Fall 2021 semester, but the shadow of a possible outbreak of the Delta variant of the coronavirus looms large for many.

Champlain has protocols in place to avoid further spread— including face masks required indoors with the exception of dorms—but given the experiences of 2020 many students are also weighing options should the virus spread and disrupt normal college activities.

Renne Bomford, a student at Champlain College stated that she'd make the best of her situation, and commute if that were the first option.

“So if the school had a bad outbreak the best situation for me would be to go home and to commute. If it gets so bad that we need to do it fully online I would take classes at home and still stay in school. I would prefer a partial refund, just for room and board. But if school is fully closed for even more than a month a full refund,” Bomford stated.

Aminah Carrington, also a student at Champlain, supported getting a vaccine booster should that opportunity arise. “Since there are more variants of Covid-19 - especially ones that the current vaccines cover- I believe it is best to get another booster shot. As long as it is tested and FDA approved, I would most likely take it.”

Some students were concerned about going home during the pandemic since many struggled with the challenges of online learning.

“Since I live in another state, it would be a struggle to go off campus to complete my education at Champlain. I would most likely stay on campus because I don’t want to drive 4 hours back home,” Carrington said.

Regardless of what happens, some students were remaining cautiously optimistic about how Champlain would respond to further developments in the pandemic. “I’m new to Champlain, but I’ve heard from senior students about how Champlain conducted themselves during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. They seemed to be cautious and took the pandemic seriously, which I appreciate,” said Carrington.

Written by Alex Jackson and Jada Biggs

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