...back to campus this fall, then the schools needed to be prepared to stick to that plan. I'm really beginning to wonder if these administrations actually believed that by testing everyone on the way in, they could prevent the virus from getting onto their campuses. Did they really think the vast majority of college kids were going to follow all of the protocols and isolate themselves from all of their peers? These outbreaks seem like the most predictable outcome anyone could have ever imagined.

As far as I'm concerned, the decision should be up to the parents and students. If they were comfortable with the risk to return to campus, then they should stay there and not leave now, taking the virus back to their families. No part of life is 100% safe, but college kids are in probably the best demographic to beat the virus without tons of lasting issues. I realize that we don't know the extent of long-term complications, and that young people have died from COVID, but college kids also die from alcohol poisoning, drug overdoses, suicide, car accidents, etc. They are young, but they are still adults, and in my opinion if they assume the risks and don't act responsibly, that's on them. We simply can't legislate 100% safety for everyone. Life has got to go on at some point, and we have to let people think and make their own decisions.

Besides all that, college kids not taking this seriously and partying and infecting each other is good for the rest of the country, because if they infect each other in a campus environment, they'll eventually build a mini herd-immunity, and the risk to the older population is much less than if they all leave and go home. I understand university faculty and staff being concerned, and if classes need to go fully virtual, so be it...but don't send the kids home.