Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020
IDS
The start of the fall, in photos p. 5
Indiana Daily Student | idsnews.com
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
Of the 8,000 on-arrival COVID-19 tests conducted at IU-Bloomington before the semester began, roughly 1% came back positive. By Matt Cohen mdc1@iu.edu | @Matt_Cohen_
IU reported Tuesday a 0.91% positivity rate of more than 30,000 students tested for COVID-19 on arrival across the IU-Bloomington, IU-Purdue University Indianapolis, IU-South Bend and IUSoutheast New Albany campuses. The Bloomington campus reported Wednesday that of 8,000 on-arrival tests, roughly 1% came back positive. According to the press release, 39,246 total tests have been administered, but only 32,002 have been processed so far, leaving more than 7,000 students without a test result as on-campus classes began Monday. IU announced plans to release a public dashboard for testing data similar to what the University of Notre Dame has used. That dashboard has not yet been released. The school is now transitioning to conduct more than 10,000 weekly tests of students, faculty and staff. Test subjects have been selected randomly beginning this week. Those selected will receive an email. IU plans to test people multiple times throughout the semester. "We're confident that the round-the-clock mitigation testing that we are now initiating -which too few organizations our size have the ability or willingness to manage — along with symptomatic testing and robust contact tracing and isolation, gives us the best chance to keep us all together on our campuses," Dr. Aaron Carroll, IU's director of surveillance and mitigation for the COVID-19 pandemic, said in the release.
IU has started to randomly select students to test for COVID-19. What happens if you test positive?
We hope you’re staying safe and healthy, Hoosiers. Things look different around campus and Bloomington, and the Indiana Daily Student will help you navigate the new abnormal. From the coronavirus to the election, from city government to racial justice, our reporters are ready to keep the city and university accountable and to tell the stories that will define this semester. We’ll make sure you know the latest on IU’s plans for the semester and how its policies affect you. Our new Black Voices section provides a platform for Black and underrepresented students to share stories, art, perspectives and columns. This section is our first step toward making our newsroom more inclusive. We’ve also changed our printing schedule to weekly, so look for the latest copy on newsstands each Thursday. This change focuses our physical newspaper on our best stories, photos and graphics. Now more than ever, we want to hear from you. Reach out with questions, concerns and story ideas at editor@idsnews.com. Follow along as the IDS staff covers a semester unlike any other at idsnews.com, @idsnews and subscribe to our daily emails. As always, thanks for reading, and don’t forget your masks.
By Helen Rummel hrummel@iu.edu | @HelenRummel
IU began random testing to screen for COVID-19 this week. Some students have already been contacted via email to appear for testing. Here is what happens to IU students who test positive for COVID-19 or are identified as coming into close contact with someone who has. Once a student tests positive for COVID-19, an IU staff member will conduct an interview over the phone with them to begin contact tracing. These contact tracers have been trained by the university over the past several months to efficiently monitor the spread of the virus. The staff will use phone calls and text messages to reach out to any contacts identified as being at risk. Both on-and off-campus students who test positive will still be asked to monitor and report their symptoms to the university through the Twistle app. In the event where one’s symptoms should worsen, the app will alert an IU Health nurse who will follow up with the patient. Kirk White, the co-chair of the Bloomington campus COVID-19 response unit, said the university is conducting random testing so it can continue to observe infection rates.
Jacob deCastro, Editor-in-Chief
Ty Vinson, managing editor
Grace Ybarra, managing editor IZZY MYSZAK | IDS
Nursing student Ericka Alvarez hands a testing supply kit to an incoming student Aug. 18 near Memorial Stadium. Several nursing students helped work the stations for the on-arrival COVID-19 testing.
Students will be asked to either quarantine or isolate themselves based on their situation. Students will quarantine if they have been exposed to COVID-19 and are still awaiting results, while those who have tested positive will be asked to selfisolate. In both situations, students will keep a distance from others by living in a secluded space and having meals delivered. On-campus students will be instructed to check into Ashton Center in the central neighborhood to isolate or quarantine. Students who are quarantining will reside in a separate building within Ashton. Students are eligible to return to campus on a caseby-case basis. People in
quarantine can move back to their dorms once they get a negative test and it has been 14 days since they were exposed to the virus with no symptoms. If they test positive or show symptoms, they move to isolation, according to White. Students in isolation can leave 10 days after their first symptoms appeared as long as their health is improving and they have not recorded a fever in the previous 24 hours. If the student never had symptoms but tested positive, they must isolate for at least 10 days following their test. If a student, on- or offcampus, is ever unsure about the next steps to take SEE POSITIVE, PAGE 4
Jaden Amos, managing editor of digital
Annie Aguiar, creative director
Grad students protest for better wages, conditions By Avraham Forrest ahforres@iu.edu | @Avraham_Forrest
= 4 people GRAPHIC BY ANNIE AGUIAR
BPD defends not wearing masks on the job Officers don't have to wear masks outside or alone in their cars, a spokesperson said. By Emily Isaacman eisaacma@iu.edu | @emilyisaacman
Despite state and local mask mandates, a Bloomington police spokesperson said officers do not have to wear masks when working outside, while alone in their patrol vehicles or if they need to “take quick action.” Monroe County’s mask mandate, which has been in effect for more than a month, requires people to wear a face covering if they’re not at home or in outdoor situations where physical distancing of at least 6 feet isn’t possible. Growing research shows wearing face coverings is one of the most effective ways to slow the spread of COVID-19. But police have been widely documented not wearing masks across the country, especially when patrolling large racial justice protests throughout the summer. Gov. Eric Holcomb's mask mandate does not specifically say whether law enforcement officers are exempt. A Bloomington spokesperson declined to comment. IU senior Patrick Saling was walking around near Third Street
and North Indiana Avenue early Friday morning when he saw police arresting a young man who appeared to be intoxicated. Saling, an activist who works with local services for people experiencing homelessness, started recording. He said he videos police whenever he sees them interacting with the public. Saling challenged one officer, who was sitting alone in his cruiser, on whether he wears a mask while transporting people who have been arrested. The officer said he doesn’t wear a mask because he doesn’t like it. “If it makes you feel better, that’s fine,” the officer can be heard saying in the video. “I’m just saying, it’s not prohibiting you from getting coronavirus.” Bloomington Police Department Capt. Ryan Pedigo said questioning the officer violated Indiana law that prevents people from interfering with a law enforcement officer while they’re working. “It is very clear that the person who sent the video was attempting to bait the officers involved into a confrontation,” Pedigo said in an email.
COURTESY PHOTO
Bloomington Police Department officers are seen arresting a citizen Aug. 21 while not wearing face coverings.
In another video from the same night, an unmasked officer administered a sobriety test to a man sitting in the police car, talking to him from less than 6 feet away. A second officer, who wore a face covering, stood to the side. The man blew, and after trying incorrectly, the officer demonstrated how to take the test, blowing air toward the
man in the car. COVID-19 is a respiratory disease that spreads via droplets traveling through the air. It primarily spreads person to person. So when police interact with young people — who’ve been seen at crowded parties without masks over the past week — they could be exposed to virus droplets before moving on to the next call. Because police encounter multiple people each day, including people experiencing homelessness who might not have access to face coverings, they could drive the spread of the coronavirus, Saling said. “The police officers are going to be the interlocutors, or the in between, between our marginalized communities that we know are particularly vulnerable through this virus and the folks that their privilege allows them to disregard the risks of this virus,” he said. Saling had seen police not wearing masks earlier this month and in April, so he wasn’t surprised to see them again this week. “It’s frustrating,” Saling said. “It’s infuriating.”
A group of about 50 graduate students gathered Monday morning in Dunn Meadow to protest inadequate pay and the increased risks graduate workers face due to the coronavirus. Protesters chanted slogans over speakers, supporting better pay and treatment for graduate students, each masked and socially distanced to allow for pandemic safety. They said they have not seen an increase in their living wage even in the face of the pandemic. “We do just as much work as anybody else,” said Nathan Schmidt, a graduate student in the Department of English. Organizers created the protest with safety guidelines in mind,with flags spacing out masked protesters and Zoom links available for anyone who could not attend. “We made sure that there was enough space to actually spread out everybody,” said Mallika Khanna, a graduate worker at The Media School and media liaison for the protest. They were also protesting to avoid fees usually associated with undergraduate workers. Schmidt said graduate students teach and grade for classes at the university and shouldn't be subject to the same fees as undergraduates. The disparities seen among graduate workers stretch back to before the pandemic. “I’ve been here for about five years, and I haven't seen a pay rise,” Ph.D. student Pallavi Rao said. SEE PROTEST, PAGE 4