With the vast majority of Ohio University students back in Athens for Fall and Spring Semesters, the local protocols for safeguarding yourself and others from the novel coronavirus are important to know. Plus if you follow the basic rules – most of which apply nearly everywhere these days – you’ll escape having locals send you the evil eye and post nasty things about you and fellow students on social media.
OU’s website lays out the rules for on-campus behavior, including social distancing, the wearing of face coverings, signing a pledge and completing an online training course (more on that later). However, much of a typical Bobcat’s life in Athens is spent off campus, in Athens student rentals, the uptown area, and other commercial parts of town (and everywhere in between). And as the new year gets under way, and vaccines against COVID-19 gradually rolling out, the situation already was starting to ease a bit in early 2021.
Athens Has a Strict Mask Ordinance
As was the case with the state of Ohio, the city of Athens had a mask ordinance in place Fall Semester, and that was still the case midway through Spring Semester. While the state of Ohio was beginning to ease up on some restrictions, the city of Athens wasn’t yet talking about any easing in early 2021..
Adopted in July, the rules for the city, which don’t cover university buildings (with their own rules as mentioned), require face coverings/masks in public spaces in Athens, including inside businesses that are open to the public and in outdoor spaces where social distancing (at least six feet) can’t be maintained.
Face coverings also must be worn on all types of public transportation in the city, including buses, public transit, rideshares and taxis. Individuals are also allowed to be unmasked when eating or drinking in a bar or restaurant, receiving dental services or medical treatment, and swimming.
Some Local Bars Have Run Afoul of State Rules
The state of Ohio has very specific rules for bars, many of which have run afoul of those rules since they took effect this past summer. In Athens, for example, a popular watering hole for OU students, Pawpurr’s, was busted by state liquor agents in late August for not enforcing physical distancing and mask wearing by customers. Observers at that bar and others have related seeing business as usual, pre-pandemic, during the ongoing public health crisis. Lines outside the bars have typically featured numerous student bargoers not wearing masks, or allowing their noses to peak above the face covering, or keeping physical distance.
The situation with bars failing to abide by local and state COVID-19 safety laws and rules is by no means limited to Athens or the state of Ohio. The national news in August and September was full of stories about campuses and college towns across the country becoming hotspots for COVID-19 outbreaks, with the outbreaks often linked back to college bars and parties. A number of higher education institutions, facing alarming COVID surges, had adjusted their reopening plans, reverting to more (or all) virtual learning. By spring 2021, the state had begun easing a number of restrictions, partly because of a declining number of coronavirus cases, but also due to political pressure from Republican lawmakers concerned about the impacts on businesses.
Townies Are Watching You
In Athens, where a surge in positive COVID-19 cases over the summer mainly involved people in their 20s, the townspeople are well aware of this fact. Some post the daily increase in positive cases on social media, usually with admonishments against “irresponsible students.” By the middle of autumn, however, community spread was well under way, and not all of that could be placed at the doorstep of reckless students. And as Spring Semester progressed at OU, the university’s testing protocols appeared to be paying dividends, with declining cases among college-aged adults.
Recurring comment from townies in recent months followed these themes: “I was uptown today and didn’t see any students wearing masks” or “I drove down Mill Street and saw a tightly packed group of 25 students partying on a porch.” Those gradually became leavened with these type of comments – “I walked into (choose a store name), and noticed several people not wearing masks, or wearing them wrong.”
In some cases, the students who were being described – for example, a small group of four or five students walking down Court Street without masks or social distancing – might not be violating health orders. In the city of Athens, for example, you don’t have to wear a mask or maintain social distance if you’re outside with fellow members of a “household.” This applies equally to a family group or a group of student housemates.
Athens Police were not actively enforcing the face-covering ordinance, and one likely reason is that it would be very time-consuming and resource-depleting to do so, especially if it’s a matter of sorting out who’s in a household and who isn’t.
From Phase 1 to Phase 2 on OU Campus
On the Ohio University campus, the Phase 1 situation that began Fall Semester was scheduled to shift to Phase 2 in late September. Despite the phased approach by the university, Athens Mayor Steve Patterson was quoted in early September stating that several thousand OU students were living in off-campus rental housing at that time (despite many fewer than that qualifying for in-person instruction).
On Sept. 8, Ohio University President Duane Nellis announced details of the Phase 2 plan for OU, under which additional students were welcomed on campus, though nearly 70 percent of undergraduates would continue taking classes remotely. Phase 2 was scheduled to begin on Sept. 27 and run through the rest of Fall Semester unless circumstances (either better or worse) dictated changes. Under Phase 2, according to OU’s website, “At least 7,200 students, representing approximately 31 percent of Athens campus undergraduate enrollment and 100 percent of Athens-based graduate enrollment, will be invited to the Athens campus…”
The website explains, “We have determined that we can best manage risk to our Athens campus community by implementing a model that carefully increases the number of students, access, and engagement on campus but with a commitment to a lower density model that helps enhance opportunities for safety.”
How did the university decide who could attend in-person classes? This is the explanation: “We have prioritized eligibility for students engaged in academic experiences that require access to in-person instruction, specialized equipment, or specific facilities to ensure academic progress toward degree requirements.”
As Spring Semester of 2021 got under way, things had loosened up considerably on the OU campus, with many more students attending live classes and living in the dorms. Meanwhile, off-campus housing in Athens appeared to be back to the pre-pandemic status quo.
Just Follow the Basics
Notwithstanding all of the rules coming from Ohio University, the state of Ohio and city of Athens, the basics are pretty consistent throughout. Wear a mask when inside a public space, don’t get too close to anybody who’s not in what you consider is a safe household group, and wear a mask outside if you can’t separate from people outside your safe and small household or family group. Wash and/or sanitize your hands after touching anything that might be contaminated. Also, learn how to properly don and doff an approved face covering (for example, don’t wear it below your nose, don’t touch the outside unless you plan to wash your hands, and wash the mask after using). In early 2021, the federal CDC was recommending double-masking, since research suggested that’s the best way to prevent infection and transmission.
One Last Piece of Advice
One final piece of advice – please don’t get caught repeating this fallacy: “I’m young and healthy so I’m not worried about catching COVID-19.” You may be young and healthy but that doesn’t mean you can’t catch the coronavirus and get very sick from it. Moreover, that definitely doesn’t mean you can’t catch it and then transmit it to someone who is at high risk and may suffer severe illness or death if they contract the virus. The saying “no man is an island” is ultra-pertinent where this pandemic is concerned, though of course we’d adjust the gender-specific term to include women as well.