On Monday, one of the largest universities in the U.S. began welcoming over 70,000 students back to campus. University of Central Florida’s fall semester brings football games, fraternity parties and myriad other events where masses can gather.
This is the first time since the pandemic took hold in 2020 that UCF and many other colleges across the U.S. will begin a fall semester without many COVID-19 precautions.
Enhanced cleaning and disinfecting of shared spaces, contact tracing, and case-tracking on the COVID-19 dashboard have been over since the end of the spring semester, Dr. Michael Deichen, associate vice president of UCF Student Health Services, shared in an April statement to the UCF community.
“On campus and throughout our community, the number of COVID-19 cases has dramatically declined from its peak in early January,” Deichen wrote. “It appears we may soon be in the endemic phase of COVID-19. This means that while COVID-19 will still circulate, the combination of natural infection, vaccination and effective treatments have made the virus more manageable, similar to a cold or seasonal flu.”
The COVID-19 section of UCF’s website is no longer being updated. UCF’s improved ventilation is here to stay, the website notes. But people with COVID-19 receive no more accommodations than students with any other illness. Faculty will no longer be notified if a student tests positive. Masks nor vaccines are required.
The website notes students with COVID-19 are asked to isolate for five days, in line with Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. The CDC has also stopped recommending most people exposed to a positive COVID-19 case quarantine.
Still, wastewater monitoring of the virus and its subvariants continue.
It won’t be possible to tell what impact school’s start has on COVID-19 spread for at least a week. Traces of COVID-19 normally show up in the toilet before symptoms begin, providing an early warning of spread, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Orange County has tested sewage near UCF since 2020.
“Since classes at UCF just started today, any changes in that service area likely won’t show up until later this week or next week,” said Orange County Utilities spokesperson Debbie Sponsler over email.
COVID-19 doesn’t cause serious illness or death as much as it did before treatments and vaccines were widely available. It is still present, however, and rising.
SARS-CoV-2 viral concentration has been trending upward in local wastewater since March. In Orange County on Thursday, wastewater levels of the virus didn’t significantly change from the prior reading, said Sponsler.
Health officials monitoring those who appear for a test recorded these results: About one in four COVID-19 tests in Orange County, where UCF is located, are positive, according to the Florida Department of Health in Orange’s Twitter.
In nearby Altamonte Springs’ sewer service area — located in parts of Orange and Seminole Counties — SARS-CoV-2 viral concentration increased 69% on Thursday compared to the last Monday, according to Altamonte Springs City Manager Frank Martz.
A graph by Martz shows that COVID-19 levels are actually higher now than this time last year, though that doesn’t mean there are more cases.
At the moment, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention marks Orange County as having a “medium” level of COVID-19 transmission, meaning only people at high risk of getting very sick are recommended to wear masks indoors.
Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, on Monday tweeted that the White House has planned “for months” to ensure K-12 schools can remain in person and minimize COVID-19. No mention was made of colleges.
ccatherman@orlandosentinel.com; @CECatherman on Twitter
