ESTABLISHED 1826 — OLDEST COLLEGE NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHENIES
Volume 149 No. 11
Miami university — Oxford, Ohio
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2021
Arrival testing participant cards given to all students, rarely used HANNAH HORSINGTON ASST. MAGAZINE EDITOR new approach to COVID-19 arrival testing by implementing the use of participant cards for all students in addition to the pre-existing method of giving wristbands to on-campus students. But beyond ensuring that all students returning for the spring semester are given a COVID-19 test, the participation cards are largely useless. “We needed a method that could help students understand when they could go to class or not go to class,” said Dana Cox, special assistant to Last fall, arrival testing was limited to only on-campus students. After being tested, students were given a red wristband to show their RA that an arrival test had been completed before moving into their dorms. This same practice was implemented this semester, and students only had to wear them until Jan. 25. This spring, both on- and
One year later
to complete an arrival test before being allowed to attend any in-person classes. Upon completion of arrival testing, all students were given an arrival testing card. The card includes a student’s
SEAN SCOTT
students to carry it at all times while
ASST. CAMPUS & COMMUNITY EDITOR
DESIGN EDITOR OWEN BERG
versities in the country to have a COVID-19 scare, on Jan. 28 of last year. At the time, there were only 4,500 cases worldwide. The New
When two Miami University students were rumored to have COVID-19 last January, junior Amer-
“We wanted something that you wallet and forget about until some-
month. Before the two Miami students could be cleared, their tests had to be sent to the CDC lab in Atlanta. Amy Acton, then the director of Ohio’s Department of Health, held a press conference in Oxford to calm the community.
Lichtenstein didn’t panic.
said. Despite the university’s good in-
going to be because of this,” he told The Miami Student last year. Unfortunately, the pandemic had
the card’s value. CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
— negative.
that we’d have gone home [the spring -
results within a half-hour. And as the world enters 2021, the U.S. sits at more than 25 million COVID-19 cases and 436,000 deaths with a new strain of the virus being found throughout the country despite the creation and distribution of a vaccine. demic would be bad but had no idea of the scale.
fall],” Lichtenstein said, “that by the time the next semester rolled around I just didn’t expect a total failure of Forty-six days before President Trump declared COVID-19 a nationuniversity in the country to cancel athletic events due to the virus. The CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
Winter Break 2020:
hitting the slopes, hitting the books and hitting the hay
STUDENT LIFE
-
LUCY GREANEY
ramping up for ESP 461 students. Usually held in San Francisco during J-term, the entrepreneurship capstone is a client consulting
STAFF WRITER COVID-19 in Oxford, Miami Univer-
class is to be on “the list.” Senior interactive media studies and entrepreneurship major Gianmarco Petrelli
leaving students with almost two full Traveling is still a hazard when it comes to the pandemic, but for junior
won the capstone project this J-term. Petrelli joined the entrepreneurship program because of its rigorous reputation. He started as a student in ESP 101 and now has been through the creative challenge of ESP 252. He
from Cleveland, but her older sister has relocated to Denver. After spending an extended amount of time separated because of COVID-19, Gray
as a teaching assistant (TA) for program director Jim Friedman. ions about Dr. Friedman, but he truly dent,” Petrelli said. Petrelli spent his January in the Farmer School of Business. Every day press the client. In the end, Petrelli’s team gave the winning pitch.
with her sister. The plan was a heavily-curated one. Gray had already recovered from coronavirus while at Miami, so she was less concerned about contracting it again. Her parents, however, did not want to be in contact with Gray after her trip. Gray planned to leave her home in from Cincinnati to Denver. At the end of the trip, she would return to Cin“It was easier this way, and the cinnati,” Gray said.
MANAGING EDITOR EMILY DATTILO
were no lines. The Denver airport was busy, but Gray still felt safe.
airplane since the beginning of the pandemic, but she wasn’t worried. cinnati airport was dead, and there
clean,” Gray said.
There was one moment of her
there was an issue with the lift. The line began growing, and at one point,
percussions. “There is no way there were all of those people in line and no one had it,” Gray said.
CAMPUS & COMMUNITY
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pain throughout her entire life as a result from built-up pressure in her CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
This Issue How did uptown restaurants fare during a COVID-19 winter break?
of sleep and food. “I had a craniectomy, which ba-
OPINION
Increasing visibility: what JoJo Siwa's coming out means for LGBTQ+ youth page 7
#MACtion in the Big Bowl
page 9
So what's up with these cards, anyway?
page 10