Covid cases on campus

[weferfgsdfg]

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I'm curious about how your schools are handling covid cases on campus? Has your campus experienced any past or active cases? Did your school immediately go online if you had a case or just rolling with it like my school? My school has had 14 past cases, 2 current positive cases, and we have 14 currently in quarantine. We still have mandatory attendance.

 

[Goro]

What f'ing penal colony is this????? You administration should be ashamed of themselves!!!

 

[weferfgsdfg]

What f'ing penal colony is this????? You administration should be ashamed of themselves!!!

ARCOM. Some of those cumulative past cases I believe are definitely students on rotations but some were from students on campus. We currently have two confirmed on campus again and, 14 in quarantine that could have been exposed or just reported sick symptoms that may not be covid19. The Covid19 data is displayed on their covid 19 dashboard on their website acheedu.org. We switched to a social distance curriculum a while ago I believe in response to a post on here. The administration was not too happy and, we had a town hall that turned very hostile with the students. They told us we can find another school and get on board or get out. The socially distanced curriculum made some lectures virtual and some lectures in person. They basically separated the class across two classrooms. The lecturer will lecture in one and, the other half of the class can watch a streamed version. Most students have been skipping because that is ridiculous but our Anatomy, FHC, OPP, FOPC, and labs are required attendance if there is an in-person class for OMS1 and 2. BECOM is only mandatory if you have below 80% in the class. Luckily, they are not enforcing this too hard as a lot of students have been skipping. I was very disappointed with how they reacted to that town hall earlier in the year when students were legitimately concerned. And I'm curious about how other schools are handling this.

 

[Goro]

Despicable to endanger you like they have done!

 

[Allosteopath]

That is absolutely ridiculous. I never thought that I would be able to say with this little apprehension, but I am glad I'm going to my newer DO school and not ARCOM.

 

[DO2015CA]

That is absolutely ridiculous. I never thought that I would be able to say with this little apprehension, but I am glad I'm going to my newer DO school and not ARCOM.

ARCOM is a newer DO school though.

OP,
I’m glad you named and shamed that ridiculous. The administration are probably the same ones who think masks/no mask is their right and shutdown is oppression

 

[Real McCoy]

Lectures at our school are asynchronous. You can choose to be on campus or at home. If you come to campus, masks must be worn, and students are distanced and split across classrooms. Labs/clinical encounters are still in person when required, and appropriate distancing measures are taken. I agree with @Goro. That is poor form on your school's part.

 

[weferfgsdfg]

ARCOM is a newer DO school though.

OP,
I’m glad you named and shamed that ridiculous. The administration are probably the same ones who think masks/no mask is their right and shutdown is oppression

Arkansas is definitely a red state. The governor and the people here don't seem to be taking it very seriously. I am not from the south so this response baffles me. Sad this pandemic has been politicized.

Lectures at our school are asynchronous. You can choose to be on campus or at home. If you come to campus, masks must be worn, and students are distanced and split across classrooms. Labs/clinical encounters are still in person when required, and appropriate distancing measures are taken. I agree with @Goro. That is poor form on your school's part.

We are required to wear masks when we enter the building. Just surprised our case count has not alarmed our administration like the students. I am glad that some students are taking it upon themselves to prioritize their health and others around them.

 

[jmtbekm]

We’ve had social distancing in place from the beginning of this year, class size is 40 or less very distanced in the lecture hall, with simultaneous live streaming to those at home. Labs are 40 or less divided into A1, A2, B1, B2 groups, with sanitizing between each class, social distancing floor stickers for waiting on your turn to get into lab, etc.

We badge into the building daily for contact tracing, and if anyone comes up positive their entire lab tank/table has to quarantine 14 days. The school has had only 5 positive cases between faculty, staff and students since May, so I think they’re doing something right.

 

[Lawpy]

What's with several DO schools imposing absurd policies during covid 19 era? Forcing mandatory attendance when covid 19 is spreading like wildfire is one of the dumbest things i have seen

 

[Rekt]

This will be unpopular, but med students need to get over being scared of covid. Obviously take precautions and your school is being dumb, but covid is here to stay and you are going to eventually be around positive cases near daily. Maybe you'll still be shielded in clinicals, but I would never consider any residency program that doesn't have you see positives. Regardless many hospitals still aren't reflex testing everyone. I've had so many incidental positives from reflex testing than I can count. You're going to be around it and there's many times you won't even know.

 

[Lawpy]

This will be unpopular, but med students need to get over being scared of covid. Obviously take precautions and your school is being dumb, but covid is here to stay and you are going to eventually be around positive cases near daily. Maybe you'll still be shielded in clinicals, but I would never consider any residency program that doesn't have you see positives. Regardless many hospitals still aren't reflex testing everyone. I've had so many incidental positives from reflex testing than I can count. You're going to be around it and there's many times you won't even know.

Ok but imposing mandatory attendance is idiotic

 

[TwoHighways]

Mandatory attendance is idiotic, rona or no rona and if schools were actually that concerned, they’d test their entire student body (and I’m sure a significant amount of asymptomatic students would turn up positive). The typical age demographic of med students are far more likely to die in a car wreck on the way to mandatory lecture than from the rona.

 

[musman9853]

Arkansas is definitely a red state. The governor and the people here don't seem to be taking it very seriously. I am not from the south so this response baffles me. Sad this pandemic has been politicized.

I'm in a redder state and our administration has been really good wrt covid precautions, so i wouldnt blame it on politics

 

[scoopdaboop]

KCU has handled COVID-19 extraordinarily well. Glad I am at this stellar, phenomenal school (relative to other DO programs).

 

[samac]

This will be unpopular, but med students need to get over being scared of covid. Obviously take precautions and your school is being dumb, but covid is here to stay and you are going to eventually be around positive cases near daily. Maybe you'll still be shielded in clinicals, but I would never consider any residency program that doesn't have you see positives. Regardless many hospitals still aren't reflex testing everyone. I've had so many incidental positives from reflex testing than I can count. You're going to be around it and there's many times you won't even know.

Known positives shouldn’t be seen by residents. It’s not integral to training and attendings have to see the patients anyway. Keeping the number of people exposed to a minimum is the best practice.

 

[Rekt]

Known positives shouldn’t be seen by residents. It’s not integral to training and attendings have to see the patients anyway. Keeping the number of people exposed to a minimum is the best practice.

Disagree. As a resident, you're a physician. You shouldn't be babied. If anything we see them primarily and the attendings do a walk by. You're going to miss out on unrelated management because people are incidentally positive.

If your program shields you from positives then I think it's a weak program. It speaks more to the culture of your program to you being non essential in patient care.

 

[samac]

Disagree. As a resident, you're a physician. You shouldn't be babied. If anything we see them primarily and the attendings do a walk by. You're going to miss out on unrelated management because people are incidentally positive.

If your program shields you from positives then I think it's a weak program. It speaks more to the culture of your program to you being non essential in patient care.

I’m a psych resident so the point is kind of moot, but I assure you my 1000+ bed hospital has plenty of patients to learn from without exposing residents to covid.
And I’m sure most programs have enough patients that aren’t positive to learn from.

 

[ciestar]

I’m a psych resident so the point is kind of moot, but I assure you my 1000+ bed hospital has plenty of patients to learn from without exposing residents to covid.
And I’m sure most programs have enough patients that aren’t positive to learn from.

I love how limiting the number of people exposed to COVID is considered babying. Im at a 150ish bed hospital and we have like... 1 or 2 positive cases here.

 

[DO2015CA]

I would say 1 senior resident and attending but our attendings aren’t in house 24s so if something were to happen that required evaluation the senior resident would have to come to bedside.

 

[deleted1053352]

I think some students brought up to the ARCOM admin at that town hall that attendance should be optional, regardless of what their grades are (80% or not), since people have different learning styles and maybe sitting in a lecture hall is not the best use of their time/could be making their performance worse. It doesn’t help at all that we are in a pandemic, but even besides that. I heard those students were quickly shut down, plainly and strictly told that they were wrong in their preferred methods of studying. That sitting in a lecture was the ONLY way to succeed, and that they (the admin) knew best because of “evidence.” How students learn is subjective smh, to each their own, it should not based on some study. I don’t understand why some admin really want to enforce policies that made sense 40 years ago when technology wasn’t great but really don’t make sense today when even some of the BEST medical schools in the country don’t require mandatory attendance, regardless of grades, and just pre-record/stream lectures. Med school is hard enough as it is, no need to actively make it more tedious. Keep labs and all the hands on stuff in person, of course. Hope the admins change this archaic policy soon, but I sadly doubt it. They really do not like to budge on their stances. I know the school wants students to stay and practice locally, but this kind of attitude really pushes a lot of students the wrong way to the point where they won’t want to stay local after graduating. Super whack.

Also to whoever said there were only 5 cases since May, that is incorrect. The ACHE website says 14 confirmed positive and recovered cases.

 

[DO2015CA]

I think some students brought up to the ARCOM admin at that town hall that attendance should be optional, regardless of what their grades are (80% or not), since people have different learning styles and maybe sitting in a lecture hall is not the best use of their time/could be making their performance worse. It doesn’t help at all that we are in a pandemic, but even besides that. I heard those students were quickly shut down, plainly and strictly told that they were wrong in their preferred methods of studying. That sitting in a lecture was the ONLY way to succeed, and that they (the admin) knew best because of “evidence.” How students learn is subjective smh, to each their own, it should not based on some study. I don’t understand why some admin really want to enforce policies that made sense 40 years ago when technology wasn’t great but really don’t make sense today when even some of the BEST medical schools in the country don’t require mandatory attendance, regardless of grades, and just pre-record/stream lectures. Med school is hard enough as it is, no need to actively make it more tedious. Keep labs and all the hands on stuff in person, of course. Hope the admins change this archaic policy soon, but I sadly doubt it. They really do not like to budge on their stances. I know the school wants students to stay and practice locally, but this kind of attitude really pushes a lot of students the wrong way to the point where they won’t want to stay local after graduating. Super whack.

Also to whoever said there were only 5 cases since May, that is incorrect. The ACHE website says 14 confirmed positive and recovered cases.

They aren’t going to change. I dealt with this same exact thing with ACOM. They would say research but then never present the data. It’s just BS. The study doesn’t exist or if it does it is extremely flawed so they don’t want to risk students picking it apart. It will not change until boomer administration retires. In their brains they can’t fathom no lecture. They also can barely work a computer so I see why they have these feelings. It’s stupid and actively lowers scores for top performers. You bring this up to administration and they will say “we aren’t just teaching you to pass the boards. There’s so much more to being a doctor. And We CaN tEaCh YoU mOrE tHaN aNy BoOk CaN.” Then they go and spend an hour reading non-clinically relevant minutia off their ppt slides for 8h/day. I’m still bitter to this day lol can you tell?

 

[Ho0v-man]

This will be unpopular, but med students need to get over being scared of covid. Obviously take precautions and your school is being dumb, but covid is here to stay and you are going to eventually be around positive cases near daily. Maybe you'll still be shielded in clinicals, but I would never consider any residency program that doesn't have you see positives. Regardless many hospitals still aren't reflex testing everyone. I've had so many incidental positives from reflex testing than I can count. You're going to be around it and there's many times you won't even know.

I get what you’re saying but gonna have to respectfully disagree. Med students should absolutely avoid Covid at all costs. If we end up with a bad case that requires us to be out for a month, a lot of our admins will not work with us to help us catch up with the curriculum. So we end up remediating or even repeating the year.

Catching Covid could cause med students to head into the match with a huge red flag.

 

[jmtbekm]

I think some students brought up to the ARCOM admin at that town hall that attendance should be optional, regardless of what their grades are (80% or not), since people have different learning styles and maybe sitting in a lecture hall is not the best use of their time/could be making their performance worse. It doesn’t help at all that we are in a pandemic, but even besides that. I heard those students were quickly shut down, plainly and strictly told that they were wrong in their preferred methods of studying. That sitting in a lecture was the ONLY way to succeed, and that they (the admin) knew best because of “evidence.” How students learn is subjective smh, to each their own, it should not based on some study. I don’t understand why some admin really want to enforce policies that made sense 40 years ago when technology wasn’t great but really don’t make sense today when even some of the BEST medical schools in the country don’t require mandatory attendance, regardless of grades, and just pre-record/stream lectures. Med school is hard enough as it is, no need to actively make it more tedious. Keep labs and all the hands on stuff in person, of course. Hope the admins change this archaic policy soon, but I sadly doubt it. They really do not like to budge on their stances. I know the school wants students to stay and practice locally, but this kind of attitude really pushes a lot of students the wrong way to the point where they won’t want to stay local after graduating. Super whack.

Also to whoever said there were only 5 cases since May, that is incorrect. The ACHE website says 14 confirmed positive and recovered cases.

That was me, and I didn’t say ARCOM has only had 5 cases since May. I said my school has only had that many cases, I don’t go to ARCOM.

 

[deleted1053352]

They aren’t going to change. I dealt with this same exact thing with ACOM. They would say research but then never present the data. It’s just BS. The study doesn’t exist or if it does it is extremely flawed so they don’t want to risk students picking it apart. It will not change until boomer administration retires. In their brains they can’t fathom no lecture. They also can barely work a computer so I see why they have these feelings. It’s stupid and actively lowers scores for top performers. You bring this up to administration and they will say “we aren’t just teaching you to pass the boards. There’s so much more to being a doctor. And We CaN tEaCh YoU mOrE tHaN aNy BoOk CaN.” Then they go and spend an hour reading non-clinically relevant minutia off their ppt slides for 8h/day. I’m still bitter to this day lol can you tell?

Dang well I’m glad to see someone who gets it. I think someone asked about the research they “cite” and apparently it’s based on evidence from a study of high school students. I’m not sure how accurate that is but if that is the case, it’s the most ridiculous freaking thing I have ever heard. Medical students would pick that research apart in minutes if that were true. I agree with you. As if sitting in a lecture hall half asleep in the morning is going to make me a better doctor. Cant wait to get out of this area tbh. I came here with an open mind but after the experience with the admin I am regretting not choosing another school and am just praying this time flies by so I can hopefully go back to my own state for residency. Haven’t been here long but can’t really stand it much longer lol.

 

[weferfgsdfg]

I'm in a redder state and our administration has been really good wrt covid precautions, so i wouldnt blame it on politics

I was referring to the political climate in general in Arkansas. A lot of people here are against the mask mandate (hence why I responded to that comment about masks) and, some believe it's a hoax or a political tool by the Left against the president. Actually, Republican state legislators filed a lawsuit to get the mask mandate removed, but a judge struck it down. Arkansas is 2nd in deaths per capita due to covid per white house report from a few days ago (cases are booming here) and governor Hutchinson keeps saying the same line over and over everything fine and we're doing the right thing blah blah.

 

[Lawpy]

I was referring to the political climate in general in Arkansas. A lot of people here are against the mask mandate (hence why I responded to that comment about masks) and, some believe it's a hoax or a political tool by the Left against the president. Actually, Republican state legislators filed a lawsuit to get the mask mandate removed, but a judge struck it down. Arkansas is 2nd in deaths per capita due to covid per white house report from a few days ago (cases are booming here) and governor Hutchinson keeps saying the same line over and over everything fine and we're doing the right thing blah blah.

The politicization of covid 19 is stupid but what's absolutely idiotic is medical schools not taking covid 19 seriously. I seriously believe the senior officials at your school should be fired and replaced with people who are serious about covid 19 and following necessary precautions for safety

 

[DO2015CA]

Dang well I’m glad to see someone who gets it. I think someone asked about the research they “cite” and apparently it’s based on evidence from a study of high school students. I’m not sure how accurate that is but if that is the case, it’s the most ridiculous freaking thing I have ever heard. Medical students would pick that research apart in minutes if that were true. I agree with you. As if sitting in a lecture hall half asleep in the morning is going to make me a better doctor. Cant wait to get out of this area tbh. I came here with an open mind but after the experience with the admin I am regretting not choosing another school and am just praying this time flies by so I can hopefully go back to my own state for residency. Haven’t been here long but can’t really stand it much longer lol.

Don’t worry it will fly by. The days are long but the years are short.

 

[drstranger]

I'm in a redder state and our administration has been really good wrt covid precautions, so i wouldnt blame it on politics

To be fair our Govnoner is surprisingly still backing the mask mandate even though it's a red state. So I would say some politics still influence it

 

[deleted1053352]

Honestly wish there was something that we could do rather than just try to get these ridiculous policies voiced on sdn. I am not a fan of the south at all. Even several professors agree that some of the policies here are just unnecessarily tedious but they have no power over the admins decisions. Can’t wait to be out of here, and I can fully say it’s a result of the school’s handling of the virus as well as their backwards policies. Yes they take some precautions but if they really, absolutely wanted to limit and minimize risk, they would do better. We are in a pandemic that has taken over 200k lives in the US alone. No reason to expose med students to more risk than is needed, especially when other schools do online lectures as a standard baseline. Atleast make them optional smh, those who want to attend live can still attend. That’s what some of the best schools do, and it’s more adaptive for students to use study styles that suite them best, not those forced by the admin for no real reason. No reason Columbia’s med school (one of the top in the country) can go fully online while we can’t even for the lecture portions. Sigh.

 

[Hematochezia666]

I would like to voice my full opinions about what's going on at ARCOM but fear retaliation and punishment. I feel many of my colleagues are the same way. The ones not complaining are just stupid or kiss butt thinking it will get them somewhere. I'm looking at all you fools chiming in with "yessir".

 

[deleted1053352]

I would like to voice my full opinions about what's going on at ARCOM but fear retaliation and punishment. I feel many of my colleagues are the same way. The ones not complaining are just stupid or kiss butt thinking it will get them somewhere. I'm looking at all you fools chiming in with "yessir".

LOL yeah there’s a whole lot of butt kissers that will do anything to please the admin. I feel however that others should truly be aware of what they are getting into. I was sold at interview day but as time goes on I realized I probably should have thought harder about this decision. If anyone asks me about this school I literally say go anywhere else if you get in. It is upsetting when you thought that this school would have been worthwhile when you had other options, especially at more established schools, only to come here and deal with a whole lot of power struggles that just make the experience of med school worse than it already is.

 

[Zakzak]

This will be unpopular, but med students need to get over being scared of covid. Obviously take precautions and your school is being dumb, but covid is here to stay and you are going to eventually be around positive cases near daily. Maybe you'll still be shielded in clinicals, but I would never consider any residency program that doesn't have you see positives. Regardless many hospitals still aren't reflex testing everyone. I've had so many incidental positives from reflex testing than I can count. You're going to be around it and there's many times you won't even know.

You don't go because you dont want to get a illness that can cause death or long term side effects and because you want to lesson the spread. To lessen the spread, you social distance and avoid gatherings as much as possible. It is not being scared. It is being responsible.

 

[ciestar]

I love how limiting the number of people exposed to COVID is considered babying. Im at a 150ish bed hospital and we have like... 1 or 2 positive cases here.

Lol this post aged well... we now have like 40.