What Happens When We All Get Sick?

As the United States faces a Covid-19 surge quite unlike any before it, with daily new cases reaching 1 million and a peak potentially yet to come, Harvard’s new pandemic policy flies in the face of both the safety and health of all those affiliated with the University.

In an email sent to the Harvard community on Jan. 4, University President Lawrence S. Bacow outlined plans for an in-person spring semester along with new pandemic protocols taking effect upon the semester’s start. Although the promise of an in-person semester brings comfort to some degree – that a semblance of normalcy might still be maintained — the numerous changes made to different protocols leave behind a sense of worry. The biggest change being that in place of isolation housing, students who test positive for the virus will instead isolate in place in dorms they may share with any number of Covid-negative and/or immunocompromised individuals.

The justification offered for this change is threefold. First, the University expects to “have large numbers of cases at Harvard,” seeming to suggest that because of the sheer volume of expected cases, there’s not enough quarantine housing and thus, isolating in dorms is the default. Second, Harvard has “near-universal vaccination,” which leads to the third reason, that the Omicron variant, which is responsible for the rampant surge, is said to be less severe than its predecessors, a point cited by Bacow in the email. Administrators believe the reasons behind this drastic protocol change could be of comfort in an unpredictable time. If anything, these reasons only underscore Harvard's lack of care for the safety and health of its community as well as a blatant attempt to protect its own interests.

For a school that’s taken the pandemic very seriously — and rightly so — the past 22 months, these new policies don’t align with Harvard’s previous actions. In March 2020, Harvard was one of the first schools in Massachusetts to move classes online and shut down in the wake of the pandemic. With the considerable influence that the University holds, it’s not surprising that other schools quickly followed suit. The following academic year, while other universities rushed to in-person classes only to be faced with widespread outbreaks, Harvard wisely played it safe, with remote learning and limited campus density. In fall 2021, Harvard re-opened with a vaccine requirement and a rigorous testing regimen that ensured low case numbers throughout the semester. These were the actions of a university that cared about its community enough to go the extra mile to keep it safe. As the pandemic evolved, Harvard’s strategies evolved with it, which made it clear that the school was keeping students’ best interests in mind. Now, the only thing that remains clear is that Harvard is giving up.

Expecting large numbers of cases in the upcoming weeks isn’t a reason to shift from quarantine housing to quarantine-in-place. Rather, having that expectation should prompt the University to search for alternatives and find ways to expand existing isolation housing. With an endowment that soared to over $50 billion last year, Harvard possesses more than enough resources to not put students in the completely unreasonable position of quarantining amongst their peers in the event they test positive. Secondly, a high vaccination rate won’t completely stop the spread of the variant. In Massachusetts, the most vaccinated state in the country, 75% of people are fully vaccinated. Still, the positivity rate in the state soared to over 23% on Jan. 7. Even with a newly instated booster requirement, Covid-19 can run rampant throughout campus and Harvard is accepting that, putting people at risk in the process.

It’s not enough to say the Omicron variant has “less serious consequences” and leave students to fend for themselves. This flippancy is dangerous, especially for members of Harvard’s community who are immunocompromised. Catching the Omicron variant would not be any “less serious” for them. Clearly, Harvard doesn’t care. If a student hasn’t come into contact with the virus at some point over winter break, Harvard’s new protocol all but ensures they will when they return to campus.

Only after facing pressure from students did Harvard offer minor concessions in a way that makes one wonder why they weren’t given in the first place. In an email sent Jan. 13, the Dean of Students Office detailed additonal protocols for return to residential life, with the added concessions of school-provided rapid tests, HEPA filters, and KN95 masks. Despite vocal student concern, no major changes were made to quarantining guidelines. Students are still expected to quarantine in their dorms, or otherwise figure out isolation on their own, placing the onus firmly on everyone but Harvard. It’s unacceptable. With all the money the school has, and all the time it had to foresee this problem, students should be receiving more than masks and filters.

It’s understandable that Harvard wants to protect the integrity of the spring semester as much as possible, but when huge swaths of the community begin catching the virus and problems mount, the school will only have itself to blame when there’s not much of a spring semester to be had.

Adjoa D. Yeboah ’25, a Crimson Editorial Editor, lives in Canaday.