By Adam Hartzer ’23
Editor-in-Chief and Layout Editor
As the COVID-19 pandemic entered its third calendar year of infections, the more contagious Omicron variant rapidly swept across the nation, reminding many of early stages of the pandemic. Entering its Junior year, COVID-19 and the Omicron variant quickly caused colleges and universities across the globe to suddenly change plans as many explore how to start the spring semester in a new era of the pandemic.
No different, Lake Forest College began communicating plans for the 2022 Spring semester soon after the Thanksgiving holiday, in early December 2021.
On December 8, the College’s COVID Leadership Team published the Spring 2022 COVID Precautions document on the College’s COVID Dashboard website, outlining the health and safety plans that will be implemented or continued through the spring semester; however, soon after the initial plans were released, cases of Omicron began to sharply increase on college campuses as institutions grappled with completing the fall semester safely.
While no changes were implemented to the finals period or end of the Fall 2021 semester at Lake Forest College, the College began to see cases suddenly rise as students left campus for the winter break and holiday season. Before the Thanksgiving holiday, Vice President of Student Affairs and Dean of Students Andrea Conner shared a campus-wide update via email on November 23, indicating that three students and one faculty member were in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19. Just under a month later, 30 students and four faculty members were in isolation, after Conner shared an update on December 16. In the update, Conner provided information to the Lake Forest College community, urging those who traveled for break to get tested. The message also informed the community to watch for further communication to the Spring 2022 plans, which were soon communicated on December 22. In the later update, the College announced plans to require booster vaccinations “for all who have not previously received an exemption.”
Students, faculty, and staff who have not yet submitted proof of booster vaccination should do so as soon as possible and can view instructions of how to do so in Conner’s email sent on December 22.
In addition to requiring booster vaccinations, the College also announced plans to test all campus members upon return to break.
While these plans remained, the Omicron surge continued to shock the nation over the Christmas holiday, where cases reached record numbers and opportunities to acquire tests became slim.
In response to these events, colleges and universities, along with Lake Forest College, began announcing adjustments to their spring arrival plans.
“Just as in semesters past, the Spring 2022 plan was created to find a balance that would keep our community as safe as possible while preserving an in-person learning and living experience,” Conner shared in a statement.
On December 31, the College’s COVID-19 Leadership Team announced on the COVID-19 website and via email additional precautions that would be implemented to prevent additional spread of the Omicron variant.
“To help mitigate Omicron’s potential impact, the College will institute a quiet period with additional safety precautions,” the College announced in the statement.
“The College believes strongly in the substantial benefits of in-person instruction by faculty in our classrooms and labs, and we encourage faculty to teach courses in person when possible during this quiet period,” the College shared in the announcement. Yet, the statement continued on to indicate that “faculty who feel temporarily unable to teach in person due to individual safety concerns prompted by the current Omicron surge may teach remotely during the quiet period.”
The quiet period also set restrictions on the operation of the Sports and Recreation Center and Library, along with the Cafeteria pivoting to provide grab-and-go meals.
With the semester’s start date of January 11 remaining unchanged, the College successfully conducted 1,347 COVID-19 tests upon students’ return to campus by January 12, according to an update sent by Conner via email to the campus community.
“At this writing, 19 students are currently isolating on campus, and 55 more are isolating at home. (A majority of the latter group tested positive at home and have not returned to campus). Fourteen faculty or staff are also isolating at home,” Conner shared in the update on January 12.
As was consistent with most of the nation, state, and local region, Lake Forest College saw its largest number of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic within the first week of the spring semester, quickly surpassing numbers from all previous semesters.
With this data, the College adjusted its plans on January 20 to address these concerns.
In the campus-wide announcement, the College announced plans to extend the quiet period an additional week, to Sunday, January 30. The College also aligned its isolation and quarantine protocols with the CDC, shortening some individual’s isolation period to five days.
Additionally, the College updated its guidelines and definition of individuals that are considered “fully vaccinated.”
“The definition of ‘fully vaccinated’ has changed to reflect that those who are not yet boosted (but are eligible) are not considered ‘up to date,’” according to the College’s announcement.
With the extension of the quiet period, along with continued compliance to the COVID-19 guidelines, the College was able to resume in-person classes and lift the quiet period restrictions as of January 31.
Conner shared that the College’s leadership team “values being nimble and shifting as needed to changing circumstances or new data or scientific knowledge regarding the virus,” and is willing to add or change the plans as needed.
The College encourages all community members to continue following the outlined COVID-19 guidelines to preserve a safe in-person experience for the remainder of the semester.
The latest information regarding COVID-19 can be found on the College’s website at lakeforest.edu/about-us/administration/covid-19-information.
