UW students face tough Thanksgiving choice

Posted at High Noon on Saturday, November 14, 2020

By Benjamin Yount

Center Square News Service

MADISON - Students at the University of Wisconsin’s largest campus are being asked to make a choice between staying on campus or going home for Thanksgiving. 

The school this week released it’s Coronavirus Holiday Guidance. The university says students who go home for the holiday cannot return for in-person classes. 

“UW–Madison students should strongly consider whether they need to be in Madison after the Thanksgiving recess. For those who choose to travel, we ask that you do not return until spring semester. For those who need to stay in Madison until the end of fall term, we ask that you do not travel for the Thanksgiving recess,” the university’s guidance reads. 

The UW System is also asking students to get a coronavirus test before they leave for the holidays, and get a test when or if they come back.

“Any student leaving our campus community for the Thanksgiving holiday with the intent of returning to campus after the Thanksgiving holiday be COVID tested once before they leave campus and tested an additional two times before they return into any classroom or congregated setting,” UW System President Tommy Thompson wrote in a memo to university chancellors this week. “Should they test positive, the protocols related to quarantining and isolation on each campus will still be required to be followed.”

Thompson also said that while most of our universities will be moving to all virtual classes post-Thanksgiving, it is more critical that specific protocols are established to accommodate individual situations.”

UW-Eau Claire, UW-River Falls, and UW-Stout have already announced plans to move to virtual classes after the Thanksgiving break. 

Other universities are expected to announce similar plans in the coming days.