Audra Nemirow/The Hofstra Chronicle
Colonial Square, site of Hofstra University isolation housing.
Recovering from an illness alone was very hard to deal with, as I am used to being fed soup by my mom whenever I do not feel well. But I think that my 10 days in Hofstra’s isolation housing would have been relatively easy if the amount of stress that came with the tedious back-and-forth I had with a few of Hofstra’s departments was not so immensely discouraging.
To preface, I do believe that Hofstra University’s Student Health Services (SHS) and Office of Resident Life were doing as much as they could considering the circumstances. However, some issues need to be fixed within these departments to make isolation more comfortable for sick students.
On Friday Sept. 3, my suitemate tested positive for COVID-19 after feeling unwell the previous couple of days. Apart from the fact that she had to buy a rapid test for herself because SHS would not give her one, her isolation period seemed to go smoothly. Since we were with our suitemate the whole time she felt sick, my roommate and I were convinced that we had the virus as well, but the SHS refused to give us a PCR test the next day because we were asymptomatic – the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines suggest that you only need a test when you start showing symptoms. So, we had a friend buy us two (expensive) rapid tests at CVS. As a broke college student, I was hesitant about spending almost $50 on a test, but the guilt of getting anyone sick was a motivation to purchase it if the school would not give me access to rapid or PCR tests.
Turns out, we were right with our assumption. My roommate tested positive that Saturday and went straight into quarantine. If we had not purchased those tests, she would have gone about her day normally and put many other students at risk.
With no surprise, I tested positive the next day and had to go into isolation. When I called SHS three times and got no answer, I called the Public Safety non-emergency line to tell them that I needed quarantine housing. They told me I would be greeted by an officer that would show me to my room, which somewhat put my mind at ease knowing someone experienced with the protocol would be there to help me. However, when I got to the quarantine buildings all the way in the back of Colonial Square with four huge bags in my hands, no one was at the door. Luckily, my roommate, who was in the same quarantine building, accidentally left the door propped open from the hour before, when I went to drop off a cup of coffee. I ran all through the building trying to find my room, crying over my situation and the fact that my arms felt like they were going to fall off due to how much I was carrying by myself.
When I finally found dorm 1315, the keys were just hanging on the door. There were two sets of keys: one for me and one for the room adjacent to mine. I had to leave one set hanging on the door in case I got a roommate, so I would sometimes feel weary when going to bed at night knowing quite literally anyone with access to the building could walk right in while I was sleeping.
During the ten days of quarantine, not one day went by without my eyes swelling with tears every now and then. Some of the reason is that it is very depressing being alone for that long, and in personal experience, I feel more vulnerable than normal when I am sick. But, most of the reason that I cried was due to my frustration with the minimal care I received from the needed service provided by Hofstra.
My first day waking up in isolation, I set my alarm for 8:30 a.m. to prepare myself for a call with SHS about getting a PCR test, as I had heard that the at-home rapid tests could occasionally be inaccurate. On the off-chance that I was negative, I wanted to give myself that one sliver of hope that would keep me sane. I called right as the clock turned 9:05 a.m., and each time someone would pick up the phone, ask my situation, put me on hold, then hang up the phone. When a nurse finally spoke with me, she said that they would not give me a PCR test because they were convinced I had COVID-19. She said that it is “probably” the virus since I had two roommates in isolation who tested positive on the PCR tests. I understood her point. However, as someone who was hoping it was just a false positive, probability was not good enough.
As the days passed, I got much worse. I had major congestion, a fever, aches, loss of taste and smell and every other COVID-19 symptom in the book. I knew at that point that I had the virus, and if I did have a PCR test, it would have come back positive. Besides my COVID-19 symptoms, a quick internet investigation taught me how extreme solitude can negatively affect the mind and body, leading to high cholesterol, smoking, heart failure and high blood pressure. As a nineteen-year-old who already takes medication for high blood pressure, my mind went straight into a bit of hysteria. Regardless of my self-diagnosis and pre-existing health problems, I was never contacted by a nurse nor was I ever checked up on by any Hofstra staff. The only communication I had with someone from Hofstra was the single email I made every day to the exceedingly kind person who brought me my meals. With no one checking up on me, they had no way of knowing if I had virus symptoms.
The worst part about being in isolation, though, is the feeling of being completely secluded from the rest of the world. In addition to loneliness, the absence of warmth from the people I talked to in Health Services made me feel like a prisoner, like I did something terrible to end up there.
I think one of the biggest disruptions to my life while in isolation was the fact that I could not go to classes. My one real wish coming out of this would be to keep online classes an option at the university – at least as an option for students in isolation. It felt very disorienting to recover from being sick (especially with the intense symptoms of COVID-19) while also juggling five classes that have vastly different focuses. Even recording the lectures so students can go back and watch them on their own time is something to be taken into consideration. If I were able to spend those ten days sitting in bed and watching my lectures from my laptop, school would have been the least of my worries.
With the stress that came with being in isolation, I have no doubt that many students are feeling the same way that I do. I briefly talked with a girl in my same situation. She said that one of the people she had close contact with was extremely hesitant about taking a test because he did not want to go back into isolation at Hofstra, as his last experience was so emotionally distressing. Hearing that a student would rather risk getting others sick than be forced to go back into quarantine is disheartening, but considering the circumstances, it is understandable.
I will say that some effort has been made by the school after the fact, I assume to make up for their lack of help during my actual isolation. A couple of days after release from quarantine, my roommate and I each got a call from the counseling center checking up on us. Their attempt to reach out made me more comfortable to talk with them in the future. Additionally, the Dean of Students, Kristen Klein, reached out to me, and we had a Zoom meeting to work through my grievances. She was very
understanding of my frustration and assured me that my feedback is a sure way for them to make positive changes in how they deal with these circumstances. This made me feel heard.
One thing that I have taken out of this experience is that if I end up testing positive again, I am going home for my ten days of isolation. It is encouraging, however, knowing that the students can talk openly to staff about what they believe should change, without the door being slammed in their face. My hope is that momentous change comes for the students in isolation because I now know first-hand how it feels to be locked up in a room with no one to take care of you but yourself.
