UW-Madison’s spring semester will look a lot like this fall with a mix of online and face-to-face classes, promotion of public health guidelines and dorms open to students who want to live on campus. One major difference, however, is that more students will be taking COVID-19 tests.
The University of Wisconsin plans a major increase in on-campus testing starting next semester. The university intends on doubling routine testing to twice a week and requiring more students and staff to be tested.
“As the university demonstrated this fall, quick detection of cases through testing, combined with isolation and quarantine efforts, rigorous contact tracing, and adherence to public health measures such as mask wearing, physical distancing and regular hand washing, is critical to keeping transmission rates of the virus low,” the release said.
According to a news release, 923 students — 755 freshmen and 168 transfers — new to campus this fall are benefiting from Bucky’s Tuition Promise, which is now in its third year.
And Addison Lathers provided a vivid description of the night the hammer came down at the University of Wisconsin, and the panic that ensued at two dormitories that each held more than 1,000 students about to be locked down for two weeks.
Fill out the FAFSA — but then reach out to the colleges you’re considering. “Let them know, ’Hey, something’s happened. Our finances are just a little bit different now. What can we do to let you know so you can take a second look?’” recommends Karla Weber, who works in the financial aid office at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Groups like Badgers for Biden, Young Progressives use new methods to encourage collegiate voting.
All students who attend classes or use campus spaces will be required to get tested twice a week in spring semester.
UW-Madison will expand their COVID-19 testing initiatives during the Spring semester to require all campus employees, as well as all students who live on campus, attend in-person classes or visit campus spaces to be tested twice per week.
The promise, first introduced for incoming students in the fall of 2018, vows to cover full tuition and segregated fees for incoming freshman or transfer students who are residents of Wisconsin and have maximum household adjusted gross incomes (AGI) of $60,000.
The Extension Dairy Program at the UW Division of Extension thrives on working in-person with farming communities across the state of Wisconsin. When the pandemic hit, the program addressed pandemic-related issues in the dairy industry while transitioning to online programming.
Thomas Friedrich, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who has done extensive genetic sequencing of the coronavirus, said that the only way to get more precise would be to conduct additional contact tracing or epidemiological investigations.
Some analysts have suggested he pour resources into Wisconsin, which began in-person early voting on Tuesday. “It’s quite a challenge for him,” said Katherine J. Cramer, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “It seems like Biden is really holding his own here.”
Quoted: “Stimulus funding is running out for people,” said Tera Johnson, founder and director of the Food Finance Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “When they designed the program, they didn’t see this going as long as it has. … Now COVID is worse in Wisconsin and outdoor seating is coming to an end. It’s an unfortunate coincidence of events.
