The University of Texas and multiple other Central Texas colleges have their first day of classes Monday, welcoming thousands of students back to campus for the most normal start to the academic year since fall 2019.
In previous semesters, many colleges had implemented extensive COVID-19 precautions, such as requiring tests or masks or temporarily moving to online-only classes, as cases spiked. While the pandemic still lingers, universities across the Austin area are beginning classes this year amid significantly lower levels of COVID-19 spread in Travis and Williamson counties.
With fewer cases in the community, UT, like other universities throughout the country, has scaled back or removed some COVID-19 precautions or programs on campus, including not requiring COVID-19 tests for the thousands of students who moved into on-campus residence halls or nearby off-campus apartments over the weekend, as officials did in fall 2021.
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UT took down its public COVID-19 dashboard July 1 because its accuracy and relevance had decreased with the number of at-home tests, UT spokesperson Shilpa Bakre said. The dashboard had data on the positivity rate and the daily number of positive tests among the students, staff and faculty.
“With effective prevention strategies, vaccines and treatments, combined with a less severe variant currently circulating, UT looks forward to continued in-person engagement throughout the semester,” Bakre said in a statement. “It is encouraged (for) all members of the UT community to be current on their COVID-19 vaccines and to test prior to the start of the fall semester.”
UT also ended its Proactive Community Testing Program — free COVID-19 testing for members of the campus community — on Aug. 15. To obtain tests during the fall semester, UT community members can instead pick up four free individual COVID-19 test kits at a time from the university.
“As we prepare to start the 2022-23 academic year, we know that COVID-19 is still present,” Terrence Hines, executive director of UT’s University Health Services, and Amy Young, chief clinical officer for UT Health Austin, wrote in an email to the community. “However, we’ve also shown that it no longer defines the way we live, learn and engage on the Forty Acres and our other campuses.”
Multiple UT students told the American-Statesman that they’re largely looking forward to the upcoming semester and the chances to make friends, join student organizations and have a more typical college experience, although some are still slightly cautious about COVID-19, as well as the potential spread of monkeypox.
Madalynn Lambert, a junior at UT, has spent all of her first two years in college in a pandemic, including a year of online-only classes during her freshman year. In the spring, Lambert said, she had only one mandatory in-person class, which she called “the best class” she’s taken, and she’s looking forward to taking more in-person classes this fall.
“I’ve come to the university to actually learn, and I feel like in that one in-person class, specifically, I learned so, so much,” Lambert said. “I’m just really excited to get that feeling again of actively learning at the university, which is what I came here to do.”
Other Central Texasuniversities are taking varied approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Huston-Tillotson spokesperson Autumn Caviness said the university is requiring a negative COVID-19 test for students to move on campus and is continuing use of its mobile app, which has a daily health screening and campus pass system.
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“Huston-Tillotson has an evolving strategy through our Safe and Healthy Rams approach that considers best practices given our local public health situation and (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidance for the fall,” Caviness said.
Texas State spokesperson Jayme Blaschke said the university is continuing to encourage students, staffers and faculty members to get the vaccine and a COVID-19 test before the fall semester, although neither is required.
Austin Community College spokesperson Sydney Pruitt said the college is maintaining its weekly COVID-19 case dashboard, which has the number of reported COVID-19 cases among ACC’s students, staff and faculty. The college is conducting on-campus testing and encouraging face masks, social distancing and vaccinations, she said.
“The college continues to monitor the status of COVID-19 and is prepared and well versed in implementing a variety of safety and instructional measures in a quick and effective manner,” Pruitt said. “ACC’s COVID-19 protocols and procedures were established at the onset of the pandemic and remain in place at this time.”
