COVID-19 and impact on school

Veterinary Science Graduate Certificate from UofI
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PetVet23 said:
our finals will be up to the day before Thanksgiving and we'll just finish then
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Theyll be taking their midterms the week before Thanksgiving, so they'll unfortunately still have online testing. :( Did not go well last semester.
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SkiOtter said:
I’m praying to everything our final exam is open book :laugh:
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One of my classes this semester switched to a take home open-book, essay test format instead of in-class multiple choice exams. I'm pretty sure my percentage is like 20% better than it would have been if I had to actually memorize all the information. :heckyeah:
 
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If I wasn’t stressed enough already, the Chief Veterinary Officer for St. Kitts said that any animals brought back to island will be quarantined with their owners and if the owner ends up testing positive during any point in the quarantine period they test your pets. If the pets are positive the government seizes your pets and won’t release them until they test negative (PCR). If still positive five months later, they euthanize them.

Am supposed to be flying back Dec 5 and bringing my dog and cat. I’m taking lots of precautions to not get Covid and will be getting tested prior to travel (I have to actually, for them to let me into the country), but now I’m even more paranoid that I’ll pick it up while traveling. I know transmission between humans and animals is rare but it has happened. I don’t think I would ever forgive myself if I brought them along and they ended up getting euthanized. This just adds an entire other layer of stress I wasn’t expecting. Now I have to figure out what I’m going to do.
 
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FutureFelineVet said:
If I wasn’t stressed enough already, the Chief Veterinary Officer for St. Kitts said that any animals brought back to island will be quarantined with their owners and if the owner ends up testing positive during any point in the quarantine period they test your pets. If the pets are positive the government seizes your pets and won’t release them until they test negative (PCR). If still positive five months later, they euthanize them.

Am supposed to be flying back Dec 5 and bringing my dog and cat. I’m taking lots of precautions to not get Covid and will be getting tested prior to travel (I have to actually, for them to let me into the country), but now I’m even more paranoid that I’ll pick it up while traveling. I know transmission between humans and animals is rare but it has happened. I don’t think I would ever forgive myself if I brought them along and they ended up getting euthanized. This just adds an entire other layer of stress I wasn’t expecting. Now I have to figure out what I’m going to do.
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I have nothing but empathy for how hard this makes things for you, but I’m also 100% sure I would not take my pets back to that island. Not worth that risk because clearly it’s a policy completely not backed by any sort of science or reason.
 
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Yeah I went ahead and talked with my parents and they would be okay watching them thankfully.

And totally agree, it’s not backed up by science at all, which is the most frustrating part...
 
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FutureFelineVet said:
Yeah I went ahead and talked with my parents and they would be okay watching them thankfully.

And totally agree, it’s not backed up by science at all, which is the most frustrating part...
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I’m glad your parents can watch them so you don’t have to risk it. That’s terrifying just to think about. Sending hugs at having to make that tough call :love:
 
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well **** me the main university has cancelled spring break too and extended winter break by 1 week which means i will have absolutely no break at all before clinics and have no idea when my first vacation block is going to be (likely 3 months into clinics if I remember my preferences correctly) which means I am not going to see my parents for at least 6 months and I am already not doing okay with this.
 
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SkiOtter said:
well **** me the main university has cancelled spring break too and extended winter break by 1 week which means i will have absolutely no break at all before clinics and have no idea when my first vacation block is going to be (likely 3 months into clinics if I remember my preferences correctly) which means I am not going to see my parents for at least 6 months and I am already not doing okay with this.
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That sucks. Maybe the vet school can work to schedule things so you all can have at least a few days off before starting? The school I went to gave 3rd years a week long break between 3rd year finals and starting clinics. We took finals a week earlier than the rest of the vet students and other campus did.
 
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JaynaAli said:
That sucks. Maybe the vet school can work to schedule things so you all can have at least a few days off before starting? The school I went to gave 3rd years a week long break between 3rd year finals and starting clinics. We took finals a week earlier than the rest of the vet students and other campus did.
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Yeah, normally we’d have finals, a week of spring break, then a week with our milestone exam and osce and then start clinics the following week. I’m not sure if they’d move anything so we can have a break but I’m really hoping so
 
Oh it's just me, sitting here patiently waiting to find out if the new health and human services mandate barring in person instruction for 3 weeks at universities will apply to us resulting in no further cadaver labs until my live surgery in mid January due to holiday breaks.... no, I'm not going crazy.... no not at all.
 
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JustPaws said:
Oh it's just me, sitting here patiently waiting to find out if the new health and human services mandate barring in person instruction for 3 weeks at universities will apply to us resulting in no further cadaver labs until my live surgery in mid January due to holiday breaks.... no, I'm not going crazy.... no not at all.
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We’ve already gotten one of our live surgeries cancelled that’s supposed to be after thanksgiving :dead:
 
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SkiOtter said:
We’ve already gotten one of our live surgeries cancelled that’s supposed to be after thanksgiving :dead:
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Do you have another opportunity to be primary? This will be my only time as primary surgeon before clinics and the thought of no hands on labs for 2 months before hand is scary
 
JustPaws said:
Do you have another opportunity to be primary? This will be my only time as primary surgeon before clinics and the thought of no hands on labs for 2 months before hand is scary
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We get one spay and half a neuter. So one person from every group gets gypped a surgery as of right now. Are you able to find a clinic anywhere that would be willing to let you come in a bit over Christmas break (or even before during your online-only time) that would let you do some surgeries?
 
genny said:
This is so sad. I would not have felt ready to do any surgery after graduation if that was the only experience I had. Obviously, you can learn what you need on the job, but I wish some schools would do a better job with preparing graduates.
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It’s why I’ve already got the humane alliance scheduled for next year :hilarious:
 
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My class has a meeting this afternoon to go over logistics for our first set of rotations this summer (between 2nd and 3rd year), I'm anxious to find out what things are going to look like
 
Real talk here. What do you guys think the chances of your school shutting down entirely is? My vet med bestie is anticipating ours being shut down in the next 4-6 weeks.
 
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batsenecal said:
Real talk here. What do you guys think the chances of your school shutting down entirely is? My vet med bestie is anticipating ours being shut down in the next 4-6 weeks.
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I think mine was somewhat expecting things to get worse around this time, so for 1st-3rd years we actually started classes a couple weeks early and have finals next week. I will say I'm a little worried to see what happens with the teaching hospital and 4th year students though as things are starting to close down again
 
batsenecal said:
Real talk here. What do you guys think the chances of your school shutting down entirely is? My vet med bestie is anticipating ours being shut down in the next 4-6 weeks.
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Low here. We started early - this is the last week of classes, and all in person labs are done afaik. All finals finish up by Thanksgiving then we have 6 weeks off.
 
batsenecal said:
Real talk here. What do you guys think the chances of your school shutting down entirely is? My vet med bestie is anticipating ours being shut down in the next 4-6 weeks.
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I really need one last LOR so if a shutdown could wait another month so I can just be on with a specific clinician, that would be great.

My school has said keeping fourth years in clinics is a priority but they’ve essentially already canceled/pushed labs and exams for everyone else into January
 
britzen said:
Low here. We started early - this is the last week of classes, and all in person labs are done afaik. All finals finish up by Thanksgiving then we have 6 weeks off.
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We have an in-person lab on Thursday and an optional in-person lab on Friday :)
So glad we're done by Thanksgiving!!!
 
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Our program designated all of the fourth years as essential employees with the school (though we do have the option to stay at home despite that designation, say if child care becomes an issue etc) so I think if they truly want to kick us out it might take a lot of heavy handed pushes from the university. I'm sure it can still happen though
 
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vetmedhead said:
Our program designated all of the fourth years as essential employees with the school (though we do have the option to stay at home despite that designation, say if child care becomes an issue etc) so I think if they truly want to kick us out it might take a lot of heavy handed pushes from the university. I'm sure it can still happen though
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That's basically where we're at too. After this week, the 1st-3rd years are entirely online until January. So if we do close, it would essentially only be to the detriment of 4th years.
 
batsenecal said:
Real talk here. What do you guys think the chances of your school shutting down entirely is? My vet med bestie is anticipating ours being shut down in the next 4-6 weeks.
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I hadn't even considered the possibility. We've been all online except for a handful of labs (which end before thanksgiving) so I'm not sure anything is going to change at this point, unless they have to restrict the 4th years again, which would absolutely suck.
 
SnowJ said:
I hadn't even considered the possibility. We've been all online except for a handful of labs (which end before thanksgiving) so I'm not sure anything is going to change at this point, unless they have to restrict the 4th years again, which would absolutely suck.
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At least on the research side, we still have a whole extra phase that we could step down to before having to close. I know the research sunrise plan is different from that for the students, but if we haven't even backed down to phase 1 again yet, I think you guys probably won't be affected.
 
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EngrSC said:
We have an in-person lab on Thursday and an optional in-person lab on Friday :)
So glad we're done by Thanksgiving!!!
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jk then. I think the class above you does do so I apparently am just out of the loop :bag:
 
Well got an email from the state vma that the Gov issued restrictions sounded like the same set up as back in march to not see anything but urgent and emergent cases set to start the 3rd. So I imagine 4th years will be affected...
 
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MixedAnimals77 said:
Well got an email from the state vma that the Gov issued restrictions sounded like the same set up as back in march to not see anything but urgent and emergent cases set to start the 3rd. So I imagine 4th years will be affected...
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I saw that, too. Are junior surgeries able to continue?

I knew there was a gown shortage but didn't hear about any other supply issues
 
CoffeeQuestionMark said:
I saw that, too. Are junior surgeries able to continue?

I knew there was a gown shortage but didn't hear about any other supply issues
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Jr sx is over for the semester thankfully-yeah gowns were the only shortages I heard about as well and I was the last block. Like you all we are completely online for the rest of the semester. Jr sx and other sx labs are supposed to resume after we get back so we'll see what happens.
 
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Just curious as to how other people's schools are handling COVID in regards to class setup. Online only? Hybrid? All in person? Michigan state has all of its first and second year students online only for spring, and we were online for fall as well. Just wondering how everyone else is doing, and how your experience has been so far with any changes to the curriculum.
 
We’re hybrid at VMCVM. The majority of our lectures are online with labs in person. They split us into 4 lab sections so only 1/4 of the class is in lab at a time, allowing for social distancing between pods of 4.
 
Hybrid at WSU. In the fall all 1st year lectures were delivered live on Zoom. We had in-person 2-hr anatomy labs 2x a week and a 2-hour surgery lab 1x per week. We had (I think) 3 in-person micro anatomy labs and 3 in-person animal handling labs. For any in-person activity we were required to submit an "attestation" that we were free from covid symptoms before coming to campus along with wearing a KN95 + face shield (provided by the school). Our groups for in-person labs split the class up into 4 sections so we were always with the same group for in-person activities. We went fully virtual after Thanksgiving break.

Spring semester starts next Monday and tbh we haven't received a ton of communication about how it's working other than it will be similar to fall with "hopefully" some opportunity to attend lecture in-person.
 
Theres a ton of info on the covid affecting schools thread that goes over alot of this for reference...mods may or may not merge the 2 threads. Would totally link the thread but currently on my phone
 
Hybrid at Texas A&M. Lectures are online, though there's the option for a limited number of us to attend in person (socially distanced, of course - they tape off seats so that we're 6 feet apart from side to side, though apparently the virus doesn't travel 6 feet front to back?). Labs and other group activities tend to be in person, though some do have Zoom components as well. We're required to be in masks when we're on campus, but I feel like that's almost a given these days!

It's all pretty scary, honestly. Hospitals are at capacity in the area due to Covid, and we haven't had the massive influx of students yet. Apparently they've actually had trouble administering the county's allotment of Covid vaccines because health care professionals are too buried by caring for Covid patients. Part of me kinda wishes the school was doing a little more for the start of the semester. Have us quarantine at home and attend everything via Zoom the first week or two? Have a negative Covid test before we start? Something? But I'm hyper vigilant about this stuff and generally felt pretty safe on campus in the fall, so hopefully that feeling will continue in the spring. These are rough times for everyone.
 
Depends heavily on year at Purdue.

First years were mostly in person with labs split to fit with covid regulations. Seconds years were pretty hybrid if I remember correctly.
Third years were online and only were in class for VSAC and junior surgery (also for lectures on Fridays)

Next semester is pretty up in the air but I think the third years are more in person.

Masks (class and labs) and face shields (for labs) are required. Randomized Covid testing is also conducted every week.
 
CU (not to be confused with CSU) is online only for the most part. I think the first years have some activities that are in person, like one of their courses is half compounding lab so they need to be on campus for that. So basically online whenever possible.
 
MN is hybrid with all lectures being online only, and in-person only for labs. Labs are divided by pods, splitting the classes into 1/6 or so, and there's pairs and groups within that for lab partners (or at least there was for junior surgery)
 
tOSU is online completely for the first two weeks. Everyone has to get COVID tested once a week for the whole semester. The goal is two negative tests before we resume some in person labs the third week. Lectures and general classes are remaining online for the semester.

They’re trying to get us 1st years into an anatomy lab to at least look at dissected specimens - that was one of the biggest complaints from the students in the fall. We were able to have clinical skills in person, but we didn’t get any anatomy labs. (Which I understand but tbh still sucks - not seeing this stuff in real life makes it a lot harder to comprehend and retain).
 
Does anyone have info on when we might be allowed to get vaccinated? I saw that the AVMA was advocating for veterinary personnel to be included in the batch of people after healthcare workers, but an actual update was never provided. I assume vet schools would be included in that general category for schools that also function as a hospital. My thought is that we might be allowed under phase 1B or 1C.
 
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jaboo said:
Does anyone have info on when we might be allowed to get vaccinated? I saw that the AVMA was advocating for veterinary personnel to be included in the batch of people after healthcare workers, but an actual update was never provided. I assume vet schools would be included in that general category for schools that also function as a hospital. My thought is that we might be allowed under phase 1B or 1C.
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it's going to be slightly state dependent. Here in WA based on the prelim layout vets aren't eligible until April at the earliest unless you're over 50 at least it's been pretty crickets via our state VMA.
Phase 1B1 - (Tier 1)
  • All people 70 years and older
  • People 50 years and older who live in multigenerational households
Phase 1B2 - (Tier 2)
  • High risk critical workers 50 years and older who work in certain congregate settings: Agriculture; food processing; grocery stores; K-12 (teachers and school staff); childcare; corrections, prisons, jails or detention facilities (staff); public transit; fire; law enforcement
Phase 1B3 - (Tier 3)
  • People 16 years or older with two or more co-morbidities or underlying conditions
Phase 1B4 - (Tier 4)
  • High-risk critical workers in certain congregate settings under 50 years
  • People, staff and volunteers all ages in congregate living settings:
    • Correctional facilities; group homes for people with disabilities; people experiencing homelessness that live in or access services in congregate settings
CO on the other hand I've been following and it looks like vets are next up to get it so that's exciting. Also looks like ID will get to vets before WA.

My SO got his first vaccine and will be getting his booster next week as he's in tier 1A being in law enforcement. They're just getting to dentists now per a friend. I'm happy for him&my friend but from listening to how many people are gawking at getting the vaccine for people he works with it frustrates me they've decided to go with a "timeline" approach. I think the window is like a month long right now to get your first vaccine. I understand their hesitancy to get vaccinated but when there's people like me willing to be vaccinated ASAP it's frustrating and I wish the window was shorter. Get those vaccines rolling!
 
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MixedAnimals77 said:
it's going to be slightly state dependent. Here in WA based on the prelim layout vets aren't eligible until April at the earliest unless you're over 50 at least it's been pretty crickets via our state VMA.
Phase 1B1 - (Tier 1)
  • All people 70 years and older
  • People 50 years and older who live in multigenerational households
Phase 1B2 - (Tier 2)
  • High risk critical workers 50 years and older who work in certain congregate settings: Agriculture; food processing; grocery stores; K-12 (teachers and school staff); childcare; corrections, prisons, jails or detention facilities (staff); public transit; fire; law enforcement
Phase 1B3 - (Tier 3)
  • People 16 years or older with two or more co-morbidities or underlying conditions
Phase 1B4 - (Tier 4)
  • High-risk critical workers in certain congregate settings under 50 years
  • People, staff and volunteers all ages in congregate living settings:
    • Correctional facilities; group homes for people with disabilities; people experiencing homelessness that live in or access services in congregate settings
CO on the other hand I've been following and it looks like vets are next up to get it so that's exciting. Also looks like ID will get to vets before WA.

My SO got his first vaccine and will be getting his booster next week as he's in tier 1A being in law enforcement. They're just getting to dentists now per a friend. I'm happy for him&my friend but from listening to how many people are gawking at getting the vaccine for people he works with it frustrates me they've decided to go with a "timeline" approach. I think the window is like a month long right now to get your first vaccine. I understand their hesitancy to get vaccinated but when there's people like me willing to be vaccinated ASAP it's frustrating and I wish the window was shorter. Get those vaccines rolling!
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Lol literally just got an email that vets got bumped to tier 1a part 2😂
 
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