770 students at Northumbria test positive.

[Gobacktothe90s]

770 students test positive at Northumbria

https://www.ladbible.com/news/uk-outbreak-at-uk-university-sees-770-students-test-positive-for-covid-19-20201002?c=1601655033701%3Fsource%3Dfacebook&fbclid=IwAR2zpVljTZshbUGlHRo4MKwmTHiJtZxUoCjj_MUX3n2FobXOJLbw-gl3G-Y

@JellyBabiesSaveLives

The thing is - only 78 had symptoms. So if they’d tested in line with NHS advice, they’d be saying they’d got an outbreak of 78, not 770.

If 90% of cases are hidden in all the other universities and schools, no wonder cases are rising!

The scary thing is, then that the 6k+ daily positive cases may well just be the very tip of the iceberg!

You can test positive for up to 12 months after you have Covid.

How do we know this?
Covid hasn't been here for 12 months yet.

"You can test positive for up to 12 months after you have Covid.

How do we know this?
Covid hasn't been here for 12 months yet."

Plenty of posters making things up and lying, dont listen to random internet posters, follow the science.

@CoronaChristmas

It’s all very well to say Universities should refund accommodation fees but if they had to do that until the end of this pandemic it could send them to the wall. It’s roughly half their income, they couldn’t really rent to anyone else and this could easily last another couple of years.

So the students will have to suffer a series of 2 week lockdowns every time one of them catches it, so the Unis can pocket the cash. No, that's not acceptable. The uni's need to offer refunds for those who want to return home to study remotely. I don't give a shit if they lose money - it's student's lives/mental health they're ruining and that's not acceptable.

Uni's a saying a lot about covid precautions, but other than protecting their own staff who they're allowing to stay at home, the students are being thrown to the wolves.

Another example of greedy money grabbing is that my son is in a fully occupied flat of 8, as are the other flats he knows about. Yet huge numbers of flats are being left empty in the same building due to low numbers. Wouldn't it have been sensible to spread them out more to reduce the number having to isolate? But no, Unis presumably want to save money on cleaning, heating etc. It's insane, the uni bosses just don't care.

@Mintychoc1

This just proves that this virus isn’t as bad as we’re being led to believe. So many asymptomatic people. I can’t believe some people on here are selfish enough to think this means we should shut schools and universities. I despair, I really do.

Good grief. Some people are really taking the wrong messages away from the current case rises.

770 cases is just crazy.

We really need to think about what is going to happen over winter.

@Char2015

Send all the students back home for god's sake. Remote learning is the only way now for them otherwise this will be a continuing theme for god knows how long.

How can they send all the students home? The majority will be living in private accommodation, often private halls and they will have signed contracts for the whole year.

So many munsnetters despairing

@alreadytaken

"You can test positive for up to 12 months after you have Covid.

How do we know this?
Covid hasn't been here for 12 months yet."

Plenty of posters making things up and lying, dont listen to random internet posters, follow the science.

But that's just it. There is no scientific consensus. Plenty of scientists and experts are saying opposite things.

Some statements are obvious nonsense though.

I don't give a shit if they lose money - it's student's lives/mental health they're ruining and that's not acceptable.

Their mental health is not going to be very good if the University they are at goes bankrupt though, particularly those who have already completed a year or two. Something that seems to be forgotten on these threads is that not all students are first years and not all live in halls of residence.

How can they send all the students home? The majority will be living in private accommodation, often private halls and they will have signed contracts for the whole year.

In most, the first years will usually be in Uni halls. At least those need to be refunded and sent home. With the way the cases are rising, there's not a snowball in hell's chance of "normality" for the January return. Covid is here for the rest of the academic year - it's blatantly obvious. Unis need to accept that, refund the money, and do at least the first year fully online where physical attendance isn't required. It's not as if the marks from the first year are counted in the degree anyway - for most courses, it's only marks in years 2 and 3 that count towards the final degree grade. Time to forget year 1 on campus for first years.

People who are saying uni’s need to simply refund don’t have much knowledge of universities. Many could go bust, meaning all the students lose out from wasted years. Also means whole cohorts of half trained doctors, nurses, paramedics...

@Belladonna12

I don't give a shit if they lose money - it's student's lives/mental health they're ruining and that's not acceptable.

Their mental health is not going to be very good if the University they are at goes bankrupt though, particularly those who have already completed a year or two. Something that seems to be forgotten on these threads is that not all students are first years and not all live in halls of residence.

So keep the 2nd and 3rd years at uni then. There'll be a third less students on site to reduce the risks. As for finances, the Unis need to take out loans or get grants from the govt.

@SallySeven

Some statements are obvious nonsense though.

Yeah, fair play. They are. On both "sides".

I think carrying on some semblance of normal life for this age group is extremely important. Catastrophising and placing a whole cohort back in their parent's homes, unless individually they are very stressed, I don't think that's justified at the moment.

I agree. The fact that so many are infected without symptoms will hopefully mean that there is the potential for herd immunity in the student population.

Academic staff are hiding at home doing online lectures so they're all right Jack

I'm not, I'm on campus doing face to face (well, mask to mask) lectures and so are many of my colleagues, as well as online teaching.

Some staff, rightly in my opinion, are at home teaching online because they are shielding because they are older or they have a pre-existing condition, They don't have the same risk as your 18 year old of getting covid! Also, some areas in lockdown and some in London are fully online which again, reflects their higher rates of covid. Thousands of us are still teaching on campus!

That's what we should be doing- seeing which groups aren't as at risk of serious illness or death (and there are some students that will be and we encourage online teaching for them too), and then letting those at lower risk back onto campus as long as it's shown transmission isn't occurring there.

How many of us are actually asymptotic if mass testing produces these results ??

[quote Orangeblossom7777]Studies have shown up to 80% have no symptoms...

www.healthline.com/health-news/50-percent-of-people-with-covid19-not-aware-have-virus[/quote]
Even your link says 25% to 80%. The better quality studies and the meta studies (those papers looking at a wide range of studies) all give figures from 16% to 40%. The CDC consensus figure is 40%. It also varies by age.

Well a covid 19 infection has only been "testable" for a few months so far.

As for finances, the Unis need to take out loans or get grants from the govt

Um, the government refuses the proposal of the sector for a bailout.

@user1497207191

How can they send all the students home? The majority will be living in private accommodation, often private halls and they will have signed contracts for the whole year.

In most, the first years will usually be in Uni halls. At least those need to be refunded and sent home. With the way the cases are rising, there's not a snowball in hell's chance of "normality" for the January return. Covid is here for the rest of the academic year - it's blatantly obvious. Unis need to accept that, refund the money, and do at least the first year fully online where physical attendance isn't required. It's not as if the marks from the first year are counted in the degree anyway - for most courses, it's only marks in years 2 and 3 that count towards the final degree grade. Time to forget year 1 on campus for first years.

It's not most at all I'm afraid. Many halls are private nowadays. At my local University they are all private and there is no way those companies are going to refund students.

Our country is too cheap to pay for proper extensive testing.

I reckon it's rife in all big city secondaries. You may be lucky in a little tiny village primary with a decent amount of rooms/land but anywhere that there are thousands of people mixing every day is going to be utterly infested. Including my dc's school unfortunately!

DD is a first year and in private halls.
Because fo the Government's exam failure she lost her first choice and went to her insurance.
In many universities only students who go to their first choice get guaranteed halls.
As a result DD is not in student halls. She is in private halls with a 48 week contract with no get out clause.

She is not alone to be in this situation.

@Mintychoc1

This just proves that this virus isn’t as bad as we’re being led to believe. So many asymptomatic people. I can’t believe some people on here are selfish enough to think this means we should shut schools and universities. I despair, I really do.

It doesn't prove anything though. We already know roughly what the IFR is for various age groups and that the age range of most students puts them in the group that have by far the lowest risk amongst all adults. We know some age groups are more likely to be asymptomatic than others. But just because someone is asymptomatic at the time of testing doesn't mean they will remain asymptomatic throughout, you have to do follow up studies to show how many remain genuinely asymptomatic. It can take between 2 and 14 days after infection (very occasionally longer) to show symptoms.

Not all students will even want to go home. In reality, if half of them are infected already it won't be long until there are no more outbreaks in halls anyway.