Back on campus, some unmasked students pack local bars despite COVID-19 restrictions. This UGA student journalist discusses how students... and the administration are handling the health crisis.
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00:00It's just a stressful time in general.
00:22There were precautions in place for the short time that I was on campus and still going
00:27on now.
00:29But before we could even kind of start classes, we had an educational course on COVID that
00:34we had to take.
00:36And then there was hand sanitizer stations and wiping stations and stuff like that.
00:42I know class sizes are smaller and divided and things like that.
00:45So they were taking those precautions.
00:48It's still just kind of a general stressful environment to be in because it's such a large
00:55school.
00:56It's upwards of 30,000 students.
01:13So it's very polarized.
01:16It's either people are taking it completely seriously or people don't think it's a threat
01:20at all.
01:21There has been a lot of partying.
01:24And so that's on the spectrum of people who don't really think it's much of a threat.
01:29And then there's people who, I mean, which is, I would like to say the majority, because
01:35when I was on campus, I saw pretty much a majority wearing masks the entire time, that
01:40are taking it seriously and they're being very cautious.
01:48But there's unfortunately a group of students who are not treating it with any kind of respect
01:54at all.
02:04There was potential exposure for myself while I was out doing some reporting for the Red
02:10and Black.
02:11And so due to the potential exposure, I did have to go home.
02:14It's just a drive down 316 for me.
02:18But for students that live in Washington state, you know, sometimes it's not easy at all to
02:23get back home, especially, you know, with the fear of airlines, you know, and COVID
02:28in the airports with Atlanta being probably how they get out and Atlanta being the biggest
02:32airport in the world.
02:41I think that the students should take responsibility for themselves and others around them.
02:45But I definitely think that the university very much has a role in it as well and should
02:51have really taken a step back and said, OK, realistically, can we accommodate tens of
02:58thousands of people?
03:00And I just realistically think that answer is no.