MIDDLEBURY — As the return date for Middlebury College students approached last month, town residents did not shy away from voicing concerns over what the college’s reopening could mean for their town’s health.
Sen. Ruth Hardy, D-Addison, wrote a letter to college President Laurie Patton on Aug. 12 calling on her to scale back the college’s reopening, and 60 college employees made a similar request in a letter of their own the following day. Residents later voiced fears about risk of infection from out-of-state students as some reported seeing new arrivals in town before the end of the college’s on-campus quarantine period.
But with all Middlebury students back on campus since Aug. 28, Covid-19 prevalence at the college has so far remained low, allowing residents and college employees to breathe a tentative sigh of relief.
The college tested all 2,260 students living on and off campus twice — once on the day they arrived, and again seven days later. Of the 4,550 tests Middlebury conducted between Aug. 18 and Aug. 28, the period when students returned to campus in three waves, just two returned positive results, according to the college’s Covid-19 dashboard.
Middlebury administrators credit low Covid-19 prevalence at the college to students largely following the many rules the college set forth before reopening: Students were required to undergo a two-week home quarantine before traveling to Middlebury, and have widely followed distancing rules and mask requirements in place on campus, where visitors are prohibited. Students also may not leave campus until Sept. 15.
“I want to emphasize that the low prevalence of Covid-19 cases in our community so far is a credit to the strong compliance of our students with physical distancing, wearing face coverings, hand hygiene, and limiting gathering sizes, as well as to our no-visitor policy,” Mark Peluso, Middlebury director of health services, wrote in an email to students on Sept. 6.
The two students who tested positive were placed in isolation and underwent contact-tracing protocols directed by the Vermont Department of Health, according to Peluso’s email. The college will now test 750 people weekly, targeting staff and students in high-contact roles, like dining hall workers and student orientation leaders.
An additional 416 test results posted to the college’s dashboard Thursday, part of the targeted testing begun last week, again showed zero new positive cases.
In a press conference on Friday, Vermont state health officials called college reopenings around the state a success, after reporting a total of 38 positive cases among students returning to college, a positivity rate of 0.09% of the 42,000 tests administered.
And in Middlebury, town residents say they’re glad that students’ return has so far yielded few cases of the virus. But many also say that successfully keeping the college open while keeping the town and surrounding area healthy is a process that’s just beginning.
“I’m relieved that there are only two cases [at the college],” said Hardy, a member of the Senate Committee on Education whose Aug. 13 letter to Patton in part encouraged prioritizing K-12 reopenings over college ones. “But we aren’t out of the woods yet. It’s a long semester, and there are other factors that could still come into play that may change our good fortune.”
One of those factors, Hardy said, is that Middlebury and other Vermont towns are navigating two reopenings at the same time that could increase contact among residents: K-12 schools reopened across the state last week, and colleges including Middlebury and UVM brought students back the week prior.
“It’s a lot happening all at once, and I worry that ups the potential risk of exposure,” she said.
On Middlebury’s campus, some college staff and professors say the low rate of infection has helped alleviate some of the anxiety that comes with working on a populated campus during a pandemic.
“I feel cautiously optimistic about the test results so far,” said Katie Gillespie, associate director for research compliance at the college. “They’re certainly encouraging. I think the bigger test will be once we enter Phase 2 and there’s more movement on and off campus.”
Gillespie and other staff members mentioned seeing almost all students wearing masks and distancing from one another when out on campus. But while administrators credit the low number of cases to students following Covid-19-related guidelines, not all students have followed the rules at all times.
“I have observed Middlebury students off campus in the past few days in residential neighborhoods (where they are technically prohibited for now) not observing appropriate social distancing,” wrote Mike Olinick, a math professor at the college, in an email to VTDigger on Thursday.
The college has already dismissed several students from campus for violating guidelines, according to a Sept. 6 announcement on its website.
In an email to VTDigger, Middlebury director of media relations Sarah Ray declined to say what guidelines students had broken that led to their dismissal, or whether the students would be allowed to take classes remotely after being dismissed from campus.
For businesses in Middlebury, students’ return represents a welcome new source of business. Caroline Corrente, owner of Haymaker Bun Co., said she’s optimistic about the college’s test results and looking forward to Sept. 15, when students can leave campus and enter town for the first time.
“Plain and simple, I am excited,” Corrente said. “As a local business I am happy to have the students back, and I feel like the college has enabled them to be here safely. It would be very naive to say that our business, along with the majority of businesses in this town, do not need the college — we absolutely do.”
Going forward, she said, she hopes to see students and the college continue to act conscientiously after a promising first week to the semester.
“I hope that the college will continue to adjust protocol as necessary,” she said. “I hope that the students continue to be smart and respectful and help us protect our community and keep our numbers down.”
