GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Spring Break is right around the corner and officials at UW-Green Bay are asking students to be careful. Kris Schuller reports while COVID-19 cases are down, the college says now is not the time to relax.
In just a few days Spring Break begins for UW-Green Bay students and some like Hope Dewing, will be using the time off to take a vacation.
“I’m actually going with my family to Cancun potentially, if things work out,” said Dewing.
The kind of trip that the assistant vice chancellor for student affairs hopes most students decide to put on hold this year.
“I think this year that’s the most responsible thing to do. We want to make sure that we keep our campus open,” said Gail Sims-Aubert.
Last week the college sent out an email, driving home the point that while cases are down it’s not time to drop your guard.
“Whether they choose to travel home an hour away or travel outside of the country, that they remember to protect themselves and those around them,” said Gail Sims-Aubert.
While UW-Green Bay is urging caution to its students to try to keep the virus off-campus, in the fall St. Norbert College opted to eliminate Spring Break all together.
“We found during the fall semester that when there were extended breaks, that we did see an increase in cases when students returned 7 to 14 days later,” said St. Norbert College’s Vice President for Academic Affairs, Jennifer Bonds-Raacke.
“At this point in time in the pandemic we believe this policy curtails the potential for continued spread of this virus,” said St. Norbert College’s Director of Health Services, Chrystal Woller.
Back at UW-Green Bay, to avoid the risk of introducing the virus the college is requiring all residential students to be tested twice for COVID-19 – the week after break.
“We don’t want them to inadvertently bring something home with them,” said Gail Sims-Aubert.
A policy many students support at this point of the pandemic.
“I think for most people right now it’s better to stay home until the pandemic kind of all washes over,” said Kara Anderson.
Right now, at UW-Green Bay, residential students are tested weekly and commuter students bi-weekly.
