What Now?: Life at the University of Kentucky

My girlfriend and I donning masks
amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Where do we go with our world, our society, from here? Since around March, our lives as we knew them have been remolded, and though we have made great strides for change, with the number of cases of COVID-19 still soaring on campus, it begs the question: what's next? 

It will likely be many, many years before we come to understand this pandemic and the differing ways in which it was shaped, for better or worse. Some countries have fared well, and some have not. Some states have fared well, and some have not. Some universities have fared well, and some have not. These things land on a certain spectrum, and oftentimes, our locales fall into the center of it. Sure, we understand that there exist certain correlations between income, sex, age, and more, with COVID-19 deaths and infections. This is natural and makes sense; the current evidence seems to support this. But at a time when cases are increasing steadily, it should force us to reanalyze our knowledge and decisions. This is not to say that the knowledge we have is bad; it is merely to suggest that, in order to understand where we are going, we must analyze the decisions we have previously made. 

Already on the University of Kentucky campus, things are evolving rapidly. Within two weeks of arriving on campus, we were required to be tested. This post isn't about the test, but I'll be the first to admit that it did hurt. Not immensely so, but it did hurt. Luckily, I came back negative, and my college adventure began. Right away, we were told that only UK students were allowed in our dorms. This was a bummer, but it was expected. We were also immediately informed that we must wear masks in any public space while on campus. A bummer, as well, but this was even more expected. And most expected of all, the majority of our classes are online this semester. It was safe to say that my introduction to college was a strange one. 

Still, things weren't bad. Frustrating at times, but more than manageable. And then...things began to change. In week two, one of the guys in my group in an Honors class mentioned that a friend of his had been taken into quarantine. Whispers of hazmat suits -- expected, yes, but still a little eerie -- became the buzz before and after class. Then UK announced that they would begin re-testing students, specifically in Greek Life, where the numbers were soaring disproportionately. That same week, a girl in my only in-person class was quarantined. Texts began to come through each weekend, warning us to be safe, wear our masks, and apply social distancing standards. Now, we are barred from entering any other resident hall save for our own and our wastewater will soon be tested. All of this in about four weeks. One has to wonder: what now?

I don't know. Honestly, I'm not sure what to expect anymore. I strongly feel as if visitors to our rooms will be barred completely. That trend, more than any other, seems very obvious. Beyond that, I'm not sure. Will we stay the full semester, or be shut down once more? How much more limited will our already limited menus become if this pandemic continues to grow worse? Will even the few in-person classes become online, too? Will events be canceled? 

I think there's a strong possibility of everything, in every direction, and I think it will depend on how much our administrators are willing to risk. I don't have the answers; I'm not sure they do, either. But I do know this: we're all going to keep doing what we can, and we'll face everything as it comes. That's all we've been doing for this entire year. And as disheartening as it may be to realize it, we aren't out of the woods just yet.