The True Cost of Coronavirus the Media Won’t Tell You About: by Emily Laitin 3-12-20

The True Cost of Coronavirus the Media Won’t Tell You About:

by Emily Laitin  3-12-20

As a university instructor, I am able to see students transition from adolescents into young adults during their pivotal years at university. I watch them learn how to live on their own, learn to handle interpersonal conflict with roommates, learn time management, and learn where their own interests lie. I watch them all get colds and flus every year as it wanders through the dormitories. I watch them all bounce back a few weeks later, learning why their mothers always had a few cans of chicken soup in the house. I watch them learn through mistakes, difficulties, and creativity, how to be independent beings in the world. And this year, I watched this beautiful dance fall apart. 

My campus recently moved to an online only system as a response to Coronavirus scares, sending students home and canceling all activities on and off campus. Mid semester, the whole university system came to a dead stop. The campus that had been so full of life became dead silent. This decision was uncalled for and unfair. This was not for students’ best interests. It was a large scale reaction to media hype. 

A worse pandemic already plagues college-aged adults and has grown exponentially in recent years: depression. Increased social isolation as well as the anonymity of the digital age are some of the factors leading to increased depression in young adults. 

Most university students are relatively healthy 18-25 year olds. The best thing for their overall well being would be if they could still eat in university dining centers, engage in on-campus classes and labs, work out in student recreation centers, and partake in university sponsored activities. 

However, because of the closures, these same students are now going to be eating non-perishable junk food, struggling to complete classes online, missing out on hands on experience of research labs, staying indoors rather than exercising, and losing out on campus leadership opportunities. These young adults who could be learning independence through the university system are being sent back home to sit in front of their computers. 

The psychological costs of isolation at this stage in life are worse than the physical costs of a flu. Students are already spending more time than ever in front of screens and less time learning to interact with others. Factors that lessen chances of depression include physical activity, social connectedness, and feelings of agency. All these are taken away in the midst of this scare. While attempting to avoid one pandemic, we have unintentionally kindled the flames of another.   

I had one day of class between the announcement and the closure of campus, and I utilized it to attempt to educate my students on the myths versus facts associated with the virus as well as best practices going forward. I had an open discussion about their fears and interpretations of the virus. We workshopped together how to create a beneficial online learning environment going forward.  And finally, I advised all of them to still go outside, to exercise, to keep connected to each other, and to critically examine the information they will see on social media concerning the virus before believing or repeating it. I encourage all faculty lucky enough to still have in person interactions with your students to do the same. 

The true cost of Coronavirus on college students isn’t shortness of breath, a fever, or flu like symptoms. It’s the loss of a semester of growth and education for millions of young adults due to media overreaction and the perpetuation of misinformation.