On Sept. 16, Dean of the College, Baishaki Taylor, announced that UMass Amherst reported 371 positive COVID-19 cases in the week of Sept. 8-14. Hampshire County has since been designated very high risk for COVID-19 by Covid Act Now.
“Students are now strongly encouraged to avoid all off-campus, indoor social events in the region. A similar spike in cases at Smith College would result in significant restrictions in order to ensure the health and safety of our community,” said Taylor in her announcement. At present, Smith students can leave Hampshire County without any additional permission or testing needed.
Despite 292 of the 371 positive cases being reported in UMass’s off-campus population, Smith administration has discouraged students from going to UMass. “It’s bad,” said Camíla Van Order González ‘25. “I wouldn’t go there.”
Other students mentioned no longer attending UMass parties due to the outbreak. One student who attended a UMass party, who asked to remain anonymous, said they do not take off their mask when they are there.
Despite the rising cases at UMass, most Smith students say that they still feel safe on campus. Smith College has only reported a 0.03% 14-day average positivity rate out of 27,971 tests since Aug.t 15. “It feels safe here, generally. There are barely any cases per week,” said González. “I don’t know if UMass has the same practices we do, but it seems like what Smith is doing is working. It’s a little scary to think about an outbreak that big, but generally I feel pretty safe. “
Smith currently requires twice-a-week testing and masking indoors. Smith students are required to follow a variety of other rules as well, including reduced capacity in dining halls (a rule set to end Oct. 1), no external guests allowed in Smith buildings and travel recommendations. Many of these are set to be reevaluated in the coming weeks as more data on on-campus COVID-19 cases emerges.
With these restrictions, there are still places where many students feel that Smith could improve. Emma Ruckle, ‘25, said on close contacts that “it was weird that a student whose roommate tested positive was just walking around and getting food with other people. I thought maybe she should have been quarantined until her second negative test.” Other students talked about rumors of UMass students coming onto campus, something they said made them feel unsafe and that is against Smith policy.
“It seems like people do a pretty good job at making sure they’re following the rules and keeping everyone safe. No one wore [masks] in high school, but here everyone is very responsible about wearing them the right way,” said Ruckle. She, like most students on campus, wears her mask whenever she is indoors and continues to get tested twice a week at the Campus Center.
Just because students are following the rules though, doesn’t mean they all like it. “If everyone had just worn their masks last year, this could have been over by now,” said Raina Plevyak ‘25. “It’s all really annoying, but it’s necessary, so I tolerate it. I’d rather deal with it and not be dead.”
