Before Coronavirus Shutdown, UW Students Pleaded: Close Campus

SEATTLE, WA — When the University of Washington announced Friday it would cancel in-person classes for the rest of the quarter as the coronavirus spreads in Washington, Brittany Bertolin breathed a sigh of relief.

“I loved that, because I was planning on not going to class anyhow,” Bertolin, a freshman at the UW, told Patch. “I don’t want to put myself at more risk than I already am.”

Bertolin, 18, has asthma, which may make her more at risk of developing serious symptoms if she becomes infected with COVID-19.

So far, the UW has announced one staff member’s positive test for COVID-19. A law student suspected of having the virus was ordered to self-isolate, and four undergraduates tested negative.

The threat of the virus has reshaped Bertolin’s day-to-day life. Bertolin has been self-isolating in her dorm room, meticulously cleaning surfaces in the common area she shares with seven other students. And she decided to cancel plans to go home to Olympia over spring break — her father, who is in his sixties, also has an autoimmune disorder, and she didn’t want to risk infecting him.

“If he gets it, it would really suck,” she said. (A February WHO report showed an 8 percent mortality rate for COVID-19 patients with chronic respiratory diseases, which includes asthma. But much remains unknown about how the virus affects different groups.)

Other students are taking similar precautions. Sophie, a 19-year-old senior who asked to be identified by their first name, also has asthma, and tried for two days to self-isolate in their off-campus apartment before giving up.

“It was awful — I was just going absolutely stir crazy,” they said. Eventually, Sophie relocated to their parents’ home nearby, where the isolation is less severe.

'Echo chamber of fury'

The anxiety wasn’t limited to students with a personal stake in the fight against the coronavirus. In the days before the university canceled classes, virus-related content flooded social media at the UW, creating what Sophie called “an echo chamber of fury.”

“A lot of students started to panic,” Bertolin said.

An online petition to close off the campus entirely, posted last Monday, has gotten nearly 50,000 signatures — more than the entire student population. On the UW’s Reddit page, students questioned the university's response to the virus, with some calling for the resignation of President Ana Mari Cauce.

On Facebook, the school's popular “UW Teens For Boundless Memes” page filled up with images protesting administrators’ decision to keep holding classes, and joking that every stray cough put students in danger.

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Bertolin and Sophie both said the online panic seemed excessive. But they, too, were frustrated that classes hadn’t been canceled sooner, and wished some information had been shared more widely.

Sophie said they were puzzled why the UW’s announcement about the law student's possible COVID-19 case was emailed only to the law school, and not to undergraduates, many of whom study at the law library.

“I think anger is pretty justified. I’m pretty mad too,” Bertolin said.

In a statement, university spokesman Victor Balta said the decision to cancel classes was informed by public health experts in the region and at the university, who advised limiting large group gatherings.

“We have been communicating with students, faculty and staff regularly,” Balta said. “Our FAQ page was created very early on and has been updated very regularly as new questions have come up.”

Since last week, other Seattle-area schools, including Seattle University and Everett Community College, also switched to online classes, and colleges across the country have followed suit.

The move online has transformed academic life at the UW, with some professors canceling finals and revising their grading systems, according to The Daily, UW's student newspaper.

"I don’t know what it's going to mean," Sophie said. "I certainly want to take my final exams, but it’s going to be interesting."

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