Stopping the Spread

Making the case that college students do actually care about COVID-19

By Anonymous

College students, in a sense, already live in an isolated state. We are physically clustered around our campuses and are socially our own category; we are often seen as a specific and irreverent breed of human. In the wake of COVID-19, the implications of this characterization are exacerbated by the fact we are “young people,” many of whom would be relatively safe if infected. College students have been broadly criticized as being selfish and apathetic to the threats of COVID-19, but arguably, this is because we are easy to monitor.

Our mass online presence allows everyone to see who went on spring break despite warnings not to, and who is making beer-themed jokes about coronavirus. Because many of us are reasonably safe, the ignorant comments we post are insensitive and selfish. But, there’s a lot of good being spread as well. “Social distancing” might be the biggest buzzword of 2020; in becoming Twitter fodder for jokes, it has been normalized on a mass scale. Social distancing is now our expectation of one another, and we are publically holding one another accountable. 

Many of my friends who have no reason to believe they’ve caught COVID-19 are self-quarantining in their apartments or, if they are able, their parents’ homes, because it is the socially responsible thing to do. They are more concerned with spreading the virus than contracting it. They fear infecting a vulnerable individual or contributing to the social overload and economic stall. My roommate even quit her job because she was uncomfortable with their lack of precaution. 

Whether or not we are fortunate enough to take these measures, college students are demonstrating genuine concern over public health. Despite the common narrative that college students don’t care about COVID-19, there is evidence we do care. We might even be vocalizing it more in our social distancing over social media.