Worried about covid

[Gingerkittykat]

My DD will be moving into halls in a couple of weeks time and I'm worried about Covid. We live in the central belt of Scotland and cases have been rising rapidly, there are rumours that NS will announce another type of lockdown soon. I've just looked up the cases in my small village and they are over 1000 per 100 000 but Scotland as a whole is 480 and rising.

DD is in the vulnerable group due to a kidney disorder. Thankfully her kidneys are working pretty well right now but Covid seems to be hitting a lot of people with CKD really hard. She is double vaccinated and very careful about things like masks and hygiene and social distancing.

I'm trying to work out a plan with her for if Covid strikes her halls or if she gets infected herself. So far I've thought of having home test kits, medical supplies and food and drinks that are easy to prepare. I'm within easy driving distance to drop things off to her, obviously in a covid secure way.

She had wanted to stay at home and commute but can't even get a written driving test booked right now, let alone a practical. Part of me is tempted to just offer her the option of staying at home. There is very limited public transport, it would take 3 buses 2 1/2 hours to get there. There is also the option of driving her to a train station 5 miles away (which is impossible to get to on public transport) and a bus and train would take less than an hour but that would depend on me being available when she needed me. The drive takes around 30-40 minutes.

If I knew she would have a full face to face timetable I would definitely want her in halls but if she is going to be going in once or twice a week then it seems pointless. She did her whole FE course online last year.

I have no idea if I am being paranoid or overprotective here. I had actually been looking forward to her moving out as there have been a lot of clashes about things like mess and noise and money

She would completely miss out on the experience of being a student if she had to travel so far on a daily basis. She’d be better to go abs live in halls or defer her place for a year and hope the situation improves by then.

Her youth is more protective than her kidneys are a risk.
Her youth + vaccinated makes her especially unlikely to be very ill with covid.

Travelling on multiple buses / trains for extended periods several times a week in an area with a relatively high number of cases does not seem a particularly good option if you are worried about catching Covid.

If she is in halls, she can decide for herself how much she wants to mix with other people and will have much more control over things like social distancing than she will on a bus.

What does she want @Gingerkittykat ?
She will miss out on the chance to live with her own age group and a lot of social side if living at home and the commute back after night out/societies etc is not easy. However it's difficult to know at moment what the social side will look like this winter!

In Scotland most universities seem to be going back with 1m distancing which means they can't operate normally.
My DD has just got her timetable for next yr and she is in university for 3 classes over 2 consecutive days and rest online.

What size are the flats she would be going into because that's a big consideration? The accommodations badly hit by COVID in Glasgow last year were for 10/12. Can she get flat for 6?
That's what my DD had and they were all fine.

Bear in mind it's very likely that the students will all be double jabbed so even if COVID spreads it will likely be mild illness.

It's a tricky one and I feel your pain, you want her to lead a normal student life (whatever that means at the moment )but aware she is clinically vulnerable.

I've just talked to her and she said she will go crazy if she has to spend another year sitting online in her bedroom. I'm just hoping she won't end up stuck in a different bedroom for a significant part of the year. She had mentioned deferring in the past but I talked her out of it. Covid is here to stay and she would need to get a job and the chances are that it would end up being something customer facing so there would still be a risk from covid there.

She's going to wait until the last minute to make a final decision but it looks like halls are the most likely option.

She is going to Stirling and the flat she has been allocated is for 6. It looks pretty tiny with a really cramped kitchen and the communal living room is just 6 office chairs crammed close together.

It is a nice campus though and at least she should get the benefits of being with other students and some of the facilities.

I need to try and let go of my worries a bit. I'm not far away if she needs support and I need to let go and trust that she will do the best she can to keep herself safe.

It is indeed a lovely campus there and there's the benefit of plenty outdoor space to socialise and not in middle of a major city. I would think she'll be safer there than in the middle of Edinburgh or Glasgow!

I gather from DD some of the flats on campus at Stirling are needing an upgrade! Haven't been in one myself though but she went to an open day.

Your DD and her flatmates will make friends with others in their block. And you know what, if things get worse again COVID wise, living with flatmates her own age in university accommodation is a whole different experience to being stuck in her bedroom at home!

IME most students were pretty sensible last year. Got tested when they should, isolated when they should, and generally followed the rules. Obviously not all of them did, just like wider society, but I think the bad press they got was unjustified in many cases.

Hopefully your DD will find something that works for her.
She'll be fine.

She won’t be just sat alone though - worst case scenario is she’s in with her flatmates isolating together. That’s got to be more fun than being at home surely? Kindly, I think you are being overly paranoid. In the vast majority of cases Covid is like a bad cold for these kids, and they will all be double jabbed which reduces the severity of the illness and the rate of transmission.