Rice University in Houston isn't messing around when it comes to the pandemic
Undergraduate students and staffers and teachers who frequent the campus are required to take a weekly Covid test. University president David Leebron says mask compliance among students is nearly universal. "I think early on we saw what was happening on other campuses and saw students being sent home. Our students really like being on our campus and at Rice. They provided not just compliance but tremendous leadership."
Leebron says of the close to 63- thousand tests done since August first, point 13 percent or 80 have come back positive. Nationwide and across Texas, number are soaring. He says they take every case seriously. "How many new cases are there? What connections are there between cases?" The students who do test positive are placed in isolation. Their contacts are traced and those they've seen are placed in quarantine.
Leebron says "Whatever our levels of success, we need to be vigilant. We need not to relax about this one iota. I think that's what's kept us fairly safe."
He adds the investment in testing is expensive, but well worth the money.
Classes are ending Friday and students who go home for Thanksgiving will get tested before they leave. Exams will be given remotely and classes resume in January.
