Boynton Health director: Student vigilance key to campus reopening

Updated: 11:02 a.m.

Preparations for a fall semester during a pandemic are underway at the University of Minnesota.

The school has introduced plans to restrict movement of students living in campus residence halls during their first few weeks to limit the spread of COVID-19.

The university plan is to test students who are symptomatic or have had direct contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case. But Carl Anderson, director and chief health officer for the on-campus Boynton Health clinic, said the U does not plan to do blanket testing of students.

"We're aware of schools that have done mass testing and testing of asymptomatic students but we've found that that doesn't always prevent outbreaks,” Anderson said. “There still needs to be a fairly rigorous plan to have students avoid social activities and wear masks and there's so much to it, that as we've observed at other schools it hasn't necessarily prevented outbreaks or problems with schools having to retrench on their academic plans."

He said ultimately, success depends on how well students follow guidelines.

"It really just takes a few sort of isolated events or groups of students not following protocols to throw the whole thing off. So we're really hoping that through social reinforcement and a strong bystander intervention approach that students will help monitor themselves and take the protocols seriously and follow them," Anderson said.

Move-in dates at the U's dorms were postponed for two weeks to give the school more time to prepare for the fall semester.

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