In the latest announcement from the PM it seems lockdown restrictions are being put back in place. As new Covid-19 cases are on the rise, the government has put in new measures to try and flatten the curve.
Up until now, everything felt like it was starting to go back to normal. However, after a new update from Boris Johnson, social gatherings will be limited to six people. Unfortunately, this rules out the chance of an S Club 7 reunion anytime soon.
However, the new rules will affect students up and down the country as Boris Johnson and the Department for Education have requested that universities are “not to send students home in the event of an outbreak, so as to avoid spreading the virus across the country”
“Many students, whether they are embarking on their first, second or third year have already had their expectations of the new term ruined.”
As student’s across the country are getting ready to move to university as the new term starts, what does this mean for them?
Many students, whether they are embarking on their first, second or third year have already had their expectations of the new term ruined. For many first year students the removal of Fresher’s Week already brings it’s anxieties however for third year students it is still unclear on how the last year of their degree will pan out.
Isla Craig, a third year English Literature student, at the University of Exeter, found being away from home at the start of the pandemic daunting. She said: “Back in March when the situation first began to get serious, being a student away from home made this unprecedented circumstance feel far more daunting. New to living alone, many of us never having experienced life-threatening illnesses, let alone a full scale world-wide crisis, naturally the instinct was to consider returning home to the safety net of family and comfort of our homes. When the university sent out an email practically telling the students to flee home if possible, you can imagine the anxiety and panic this created…”
Isla also commented on how students would be, “spending isolation/quarantine in tiny box rooms with shared bathrooms/kitchens” which were “spaces never considered to be more than temporary homes”
When the UK first went into lockdown it was reported how the mental health of those living in small flats would suffer. Surely, the mental health of students is also set to decline with young people not only staying in small rooms but being away from home.
Georgie Massen, a former student of Aberystwyth University, also commented saying, “This is absolutely ridiculous. I went to Aberystwyth uni for undergrad with VERY few ICU beds. We were sent home to not only protect ourselves and to have security of family but also to protect the rural town! This is why Aber was lucky to have such a small number of cases. We protected the town by returning home.”
With the government’s mixed messages to ‘stay at home’ ‘don’t stay at home’ and ‘go to work’ but ‘don’t go to work’ student’s will be left in the lurch.
For Isla, the message to student’s is still unclear, “If the issue is students migrating home, why are we migrating up and down the country in the first place, mixing with people we haven’t seen for well over 6 months. I have one hour maximum on campus a week – my course is clearly capable of being taught completely online. If the outbreak happens in December are we really expected to stay away from our families over Christmas? I am sure many students (as well as their parents) will not choose to stay in their university city if there were to be another alert/lockdown.”
With the government’s message to ‘wash your hands, cover your face, make space, and don’t socially gather in groups of more than 6’, it will be an anxious time for both students and parents as the university term begins.
Neve Gordon-Farleigh
Featured image courtesy of @bantersnaps via Unsplash.