College Move-In Was Supposed To Mark A Return To Normal. Then Came The Delta Variant

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Workers help students move in to Selleck Hall, at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.





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Ariana Huey, a sophomore at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, takes a saliva-based COVID-19 test upon arrival on campus.





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The Coronavirus Crisis
From Free Pizza To Free Tuition, Colleges Try Everything To Get Students Vaccinated

Mask mandates have also made their way back to some campuses. In some cases, those campus mask requirements have been met with political pushback and in some cases, legal challenges.

In the midst of all this turmoil and uncertainty, campus leaders are being forced to re-imagine an in-person start, at places like California State University, Stanislaus, and the University of Texas, San Antonio.

But here in Lincoln, it’s full steam ahead for the fall semester. The university has so far steered clear of requiring the vaccine, instead making it voluntary for students to report their vaccination status. The university did offer a number of prizes to students who uploaded their vaccine card, including the possibility of winning a smart watch or a monthly massage. Students who don’t upload their CDC card will be required to take weekly COVID-19 tests.





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Phoebe Fies, a junior, and her mom Dixee Bartholomew-Feis, turn in her COVID-19 test during move-in week at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.





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Kitana Bernth, a first-year student, moves into her dorm with help from her mom. Kitana is vaccinated, but she hasn’t asked her roommate if she is yet. «If she chooses to get one, I don’t really care. It’s honestly her decision.





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Kitana Bernth, a first-year student, moves into her dorm with help from her mom. Kitana is vaccinated, but she hasn’t asked her roommate if she is yet. «If she chooses to get one, I don’t really care. It’s honestly her decision.


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A report from the University of Texas at Austin, which modeled different scenarios this fall, estimates that about 200 students — of the school’s 50,000 — will arrive on campus infected with COVID-19. The report anticipated that 57% of students would be vaccinated when the fall semester begins, and predicts that without frequent testing or if students do not wear masks indoors, an average of 11,200 students could become infected with COVID-19 this fall.

Paltiel’s new research also suggests that not testing unvaccinated students would be

detrimental to campuses’ handling of the virus, especially given that other precautions, such as reducing the density of students in classrooms, wearing masks, and banning large gatherings, have been lifted. «Without either testing or distancing policies, a return to pre-COVID campus life and activities could result in the infection of virtually all

unvaccinated members of the population before the end of the semester, the report states.

Some of that anxiety is swirling here in Lincoln.

«It’s a little scary, because of Delta, says Maria Huey, who is here to move her daughter Ariana, a sophomore, into campus for the first time. Ariana attended college from home in San Antonio last year, and though mom and daughter are both vaccinated and wearing masks, there’s still some hesitancy at being on a big campus with so many other people.

«Walking around here, there’s not many people with masks and that’s pretty scary for me, Huey says. «Back home, everybody wears masks … So, yeah, we’ve had to be even more careful.