ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Volume 149 No. 3
Miami university — Oxford, Ohio
What is herd immunity, and what would it mean at Miami?
Miami replaces spring break with scattered “reading days”
THE MIAMI STUDENT More than 1,500 Miami University students have tested positive for COVID-19 since Aug. 17 — nearly 10% of the total student population. As infections continue to rise, many students have joked about getting infected intentionally in the name of herd immunity. But for the health professionals informing Miami’s response to the pandemic, this trend has dangerous implications for the Oxford community. Herd immunity occurs when a large majority of a population becomes resistant to an infectious disease’s spread. Resistance can come in the form of a vaccination or antibodies from a previous infection. Generally, anywhere from 80 to 95% of a population needs to be resistant to a disease to achieve herd immunity. The exact percentage changes from disease to disease based on factors like rate of infection and how long immunity lasts. Jennifer Bailer, health commissioner for Butler County, said this statistic can be hard to nail down for new diseases like COVID-19. “Immunity to COVID by having had the disease seems to last only about 3 months,” Bailer wrote in an email to The Miami Student. “Getting an entire population immune lished over and over again. Indeed, it may never be adequately established via disease only and would require vaccination in addition to disease.” fessor of microbiology at Miami, explained that any potential vaccine make it through Phase 3 testing for be approved by the FDA. “Normally, this is a process of years rather than months,” Bridge said. “I don’t necessarily think that
ASST. CULTURE EDITOR Miami will follow the lead of universities like Ohio State in the decision to eliminate the traditional, week-long spring break and replace out the 2021 spring semester. Just as the fall calendar was rearranged around Thanksgiving to reduce potential travel and prevent the spread of coronavirus, the same is being done to the spring semester schedule. In an email to the Miami community, Provost Jason Osborne said this new plan allows the university to continue with the same winter and summer terms, but it is still subject to change. “It is to try to keep this Oxford bubble as tight as we can for as long as we can to reduce risk,” said Jayne Brownell, vice president for student But spring semester is a long semester with very few breaks, even in a traditional academic year. To mit-
week. Students are getting the same
fast-tracking the vaccine is wrong, but I do think it needs to be done cautiously.” For Grace Connors, a sophomore public health major, whether or not to take the vaccine is an open question. “That’s a very fast turnaround,” Connors said. “Vaccines are known to
have some complications from time to time. But also from the perspective of looking out for everyone else, I would feel rather inclined to get it, especially if there’s enough push toward the concept that it would get the nation back to some sort of normalcy or reduce deaths and cases.” Despite potential complications associated with the eventual
COVID-19 vaccine, Bridge and Bailer agree that intentionally getting infected with COVID-19 for temporary immunity is unnecessarily dangerous for students. “While most young adults get mild cases, intentionally spreading or getting a disease can be dangerous CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
By spreading the days out like this, Miami is still meeting the state’s instructional hours requirements while attempting to keep students safe. “I just wish [the reading days] weren’t sporadically placed and instead [were] random Fridays so we could get a three-day weekend,” said Sydney Cain, a sophomore psychology and theatre double major. According to Brownell, this is exactly what is trying to be avoided, as long weekends might leave students more likely to leave campus or have social events. But some students CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Rolling with the punches:
The life of a high school senior
SAM CIOFFI ASST. MAGAZINE EDITOR What’s 18-year-old Davis Byrd’s idea of a perfect day? He wakes up, grabs some cereal (he claims it’s the best food), plays the video game Overwatch on his Nintendo Switch and hangs out with two of his friends, Aaron and Nathan. Maybe they even play a little bit of soccer. Like many kids during these COVID times, Byrd is trying to stay busy. He started his senior year at Talawanda High School only two months ago. While Byrd technically lives in Hamilton, he still lives close to Oxford in Butler County. a 30-minute drive from Oxford, he’s grown up in this area almost his whole life. In school, which is online for the moment, Byrd is involved in drama club, Model U.N. and the varsity boys soccer team. When he’s not doing school work, he works part-time at the Hueston Woods Golf Course cleaning golf carts and picking up golf balls on the driving range. It was a job his mom, who works him get. Although Byrd’s parents didn’t go to college, he hopes to start applying to schools soon. The three colleges on his list are Miami, the University of Cincinnati and Ohio University.
Wherever he decides to go, he’ll most likely major in zoology, a decision 2000’s children’s show “Zoboomafoo,” which taught kids about animals. “I’ve always been really into animals for zoology and hopefully land a job in a zoo somewhere,” Byrd said. However, his college plans all depend on the success of one thing: Nosebleed, the band that Byrd is a frontman for. In addition to being a high school student, playing soccer and working, Byrd also devotes a good portion of his time to playing music. Nosebleed members: a drummer, bassist, guitarist and Byrd on lead vocals. The group produces music that is best described as “punk” and features such as Weezer and Smashing Pumpkins. “My favorite band of all time, no question, is Weezer,” Byrd said. “Weezer is one of my personality traits. I talk about Weezer all the time.” In a few months, most likely around wintertime, Nosebleed will release their the singles being released soon is called “Q’s Pipeline,” named after the man who used to run Q’s Dungeon, a concert venue in Cincinnati.
This Issue NEWS
CULTURE
Students experience delays in COVID test results
page 5
SOFIA BOLDA
Nosebleed played a show at Q’s Dungeon last December before the place closed its doors. It was also at this venue that Byrd and one of his friends, Aaron Wanko, a junior at Talawanda, saw a band named Pierre perform. After the show, Byrd went up and started making conversation with members of the band, telling them he was in a band himself. “It was really cool because they were this kinda famous band, and he was just talking to them,” Wanko said.
Wanko believes that spontaneity is one of Byrd’s best qualities. “He usually just kinda does things, and it’s always fun,” Wanko said. Another one of Byrd’s friends, Nathan Hall, who’s also a senior at Talapersonality and energy. “I know he’s made friends everywhere just from his personality and how open and kind he is to everyone,” Hall said.
STYLE
You'll be kinda 'sus' if you don't read about Among Us at Miami. page 7
Currently, Wanko and Hall are Byrd’s two closest friends. Hall hopes to stay in touch with Byrd once they go live with Byrd in the future if they both attend Miami. But, for the moment, Byrd is just trying to see where life takes him. “I think more about the moment rather than the future, I guess,” Byrd said.
OPINION
What a year without clothes shopping taught me page 8
Name the time and date for a game ... Miami football will be there. Hopefully. page 9
Why we need to shelve our textbooks on reading days
page 10