How to Prepare If Your Student Returns Home for Thanksgiving
This year has been full of sacrifices and impossible choices, but that’s not all. If you have kids who are not in college, you may now be faced with the latest mystery of the pandemic: Are you forcing them to come home and risk infecting each other, or are you telling them to stay put and get through the holidays on their own?
As you decide whether to – or how – to bring them home, here are some things to keep in mind.
Start with your own risk analysis
There is just over a week left until Thanksgiving, which means how your college student has performed around the world in recent weeks goes a long way in determining how much risk they pose to you and other family members. If their lessons were mostly virtual, and they do not go to restaurants or parties, but return home to fairly young, healthy parents and siblings, then they are at one end of the risk spectrum . On the other end of the spectrum are students who have been going to bars as cases rise in their area, those who attend face-to-face classes, and students who eat with their friends in the cafeteria, while their elderly grandparents will sit down to dinner on the Day. Thanksgiving. table with you.
“See what their college has reported on current infections, and how many infections have been reported in the area where the college is located, especially if the student lives off campus,” says Dr. David Cennimo, an infectious disease expert at Rutgers New Jersey School of Medicine , says in an email. “Also, have a frank and honest discussion with your student about their recent activities and potential for expansion.”
You are not on campus with them, so there is no way to be sure how careful they really are. But you know your child and you can probably guess how careful he is, how he claims, and whether he keeps himself as far away from others as possible.
Set ground rules for when they get home
Thanksgiving break is traditionally a time for college students to reconnect with their high school friends. Unfortunately, the group of teens and 20s who gather in your hometown, who have come here from all over creation, is exactly what we don’t want right now.
Set clear boundaries on how they will communicate while they are at home for the holiday, and be conservative here. Small outdoor gatherings, masked, socially distanced hangouts may be acceptable; but if you have vulnerable family members, you might want to keep all the catch-ups virtual this year.
How you prepare your home for the big dinner can also make a difference. If the weather does not allow you to be outdoors, decompose as far indoors as possible (everyone should wear masks when they are not eating or drinking) and keep college students as far away from high-risk relatives as possible.
Families may also consider reintroducing the children’s table this year for students returning home or attending full-time schools to keep them away from high-risk family members, Chennimo says.
Remember, negative tests are not a guarantee
Testing before they leave campus or as soon as they arrive in your city is good for some positive cases; but it’s important to remember that a negative test is just a snapshot of a specific point in time.
“If a student gets tested the week before Thanksgiving, they won’t consider any impacts for the week after,” Chennimo says. “If a student arrives on a plane late Tuesday night and gets a negative test on Wednesday morning, he can still test positive ten days later if exposed while traveling. This student should not hug his grandmother, be with her or without a mask, simply because he recently had a negative test result.
Let’s talk about the safest way to travel
There is currently no zero-risk way to travel, but there are some things they can do to gradually reduce the risk of infection. The preferred method is to drive alone and to minimize the number of stops. If they don’t have a car, the best option is to have a family member pick them up.
“If they need to travel by train or plane, they should use the toilet before arriving at the station or terminal to reduce the risk of infection,” says Chennimo. “They must wear a mask throughout the journey, avoid eating or drinking, and often use hand sanitizer. If possible, they should stay away from where they are sitting. “
Also, if they are traveling from an out-of-state, make sure they comply with your state’s visitor quarantine regulations and their state’s requirements for testing or quarantine upon return to school.
You can still change your mind
Thanksgiving is still a week away, which means everyone has a week to decide that the risk just isn’t worth it – and if it’s ever okay to unplug on a last-minute visit, now is. Be aware of the spread in both your area and theirs, report your plans regularly and cancel them as needed .