Freshman students at Penn State hosted a “maskless social” two days after move in day resulting in more than 2,000 signatures on A Change.org petition to get the freshman sent home, according to The Centre Daily Times.

Are the Penn State students more at risk for covid by staying at college? Dr. Anthony Fauci, long-standing director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, advised Penn State to not send their students home for the semester amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. 

According to the Daily Collegian, Dr. Fauci states, “Many Penn State students live or interact with people at home who are more at-risk for the virus or are immunocompromised. Students’ return home could lead to tragedy.” If students at Penn State are being exposed to one another through parties and careless acts of contact, the other students should not be sent back home where families could be put at risk for getting the virus. Any student at Penn State could have Covid and not know, so they are all being quarantined together on campus to try and keep it contained.

Students that were involved in big gatherings and parties are being advised by the school to be disciplined in a way that does not involve being sent home.

As reported by WTAJ, Jesse Barlow, State College Borough Council President, states “It’s very alarming, this is what everyone was predicting would happen. I think PSU has a big problem with what they’re gonna do about this. It may be very hard to track down all the students who did this and discipline them, but I think the university should try to do that as soon as possible and hold them accountable.” PSU is ready to discipline students who were involved rather than punish everyone by sending all students home. 

Tests have been found to falsely show negative results. This could lead the students into believing they are safe, but they unknowingly have the virus.

According to the Daily Collegian, “testing negative before being sent home isn’t a fool proof plan — a student could test negative the day before traveling home and contract the virus right before leaving, or contract it through a method of transportation while leaving.” Students could get the virus as they are on a train, or any public source of transportation on their way home and bring it to their families even though they were already tested negative.

Colleges can advise students to take precautionary measures to prevent the spread of the virus. Avoiding the share of items with roommates, wiping down desks with disinfectant wipes, and avoiding the share of food with others in the dining hall are all measures that can be taken to help slow down the spread of the virus at college. Visit cdc.gov for more information.