Residence Life and Housing Office | Photo by Peter Murphy | The Wright State Guardian
Residential students have strong opinions when it comes to how Wright State University (WSU) has chosen to address COVID-19 testing on campus.
Current COVID plan
The rapid rise in COVID positive cases has caused a stir among many local students as Ohio universities address the sharp increase of cases. Several WSU students voiced their overall support of the university’s current plan to track COVID cases.
“I think Wright State has so far done a great job at administering tests and trying to keep students safe and accountable,” Colby Ricker, film major, said. “I'm thankful that the school provides tests for free and has allowed a larger window to get tested than before.”
Concern for all residents
While WSU is home to a number of traditional college students, there are a number of non-traditional students as well. These students range from adults above the typical college age, students with disabilities, or students who are also parents.
“People are taking this very seriously,” Rebecca Jones, a non-traditional student, said. “The fact that they keep having to order more tests means that students want this to happen.”
Jones represents a small, but still important demographic at WSU: the single parent.
Too many requests, not enough tests
On Sept. 17, all residents received an email from Dan Bertsos, Director of Wright State Housing, informing students that WSU housing was temporarily out of tests for the second time.
While this could be seen as poor planning by some, it is a result of more than expected requests.
“We are so happy to see so many students coming up to do self-tests and submit their results,” Janelle Lattimore, a student employee at Wright State Housing, said. “We have got a lot of students coming up to receive tests.”
Students are thankful WSU is taking steps to ensure an outbreak of cases doesn’t occur in housing.
“This seems like a proactive measure,” Ricker said, recalling his experience in the spring semester of 2020. “They really are trying to make sure things don’t get out of hand.”
When it comes to student participation, students feel WSU is ahead of many other schools.
“It's nice to see students keeping their distance, wearing masking indoors and washing their hands,” Jones said.
With no known restart date for testing, WSU released a statement on Friday, Sept. 17 saying that there were plans to open a campus-based testing facility. This will likely ease the strain on campus housing when it comes to acquiring tests.
