FSU Catching Cases Before Classes Begin
August 20th, 2020 by Jake StofanClasses at FSU start Monday, but students and staff are already testing positive for COVID-19.
Before stepping foot in a classroom, FSU students living on campus are have to take their first exam of the semester: A COVID-19 test.
“Honestly I’m a really anxious person when it comes to any medical procedure, but it was really fast and easy,” said FSU student Samantha Zimm.
And the students like we spoke with like Matthew Mckey told us the mandatory testing is a comforting precaution.
“I mean you might as well catch the cases before they all get in the dorms and that kind of stuff,” said Mckey.
Of the 3,222 tests conducted so far, 42 students and five staff members have tested positive.
The university isn’t commenting on the results, but confirmed contract tracing efforts are underway.
Students see it as both a positive and a negative.
“It’s a little concerning, but I know that they set aside the dorm for self-quarantining and you know, that gets that out of the way. It’s good that they’re catching them really early,” said Zimm.
Students told us their test results are expected back within 72 hours.
While they wait, they’re free to move into the residence halls.
And that is concerning to students like Kristina Robinette.
“I’m about to move in an hour from now and I’m going to be around lots of people. So if I have it and I don’t know, I’m gonna give it to lots of people before I know,” said Robinette.
But she noted there is likely no perfect solution.
“You can never be safe enough because I mean, I could get a negative test now and then go meet someone at a store 30 minutes from now and get it,” said Robinette.
Still, she’s determined to push forward living on campus, even though her classes are exclusively online.
“I want to get as much of the college experience as I can. I already had my senior year ruined a little bit so I’m trying to take whatever I can get,” said Robinette.
Despite the recent cases, the university intends to go forward with its planned schedule Monday.
More than one third of classes will be in person.
FSU is planning a dashboard that will track case numbers identified by the university.
We’re told it will be up and running no later than Wednesday.
Those numbers will be updated weekly.
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