While the Australian National University’s response to the campus closure due to COVID-19 restrictions may have started off somewhat rocky, any kinks in the system have been smoothed out, the University says.
ANU’s Public Health Lead at the Covid Response Office, Professor Tracy Smart, said she has been in very close contact with the ACT Health Directorate since the beginning of the pandemic and they have had a plan in place ready to be enacted when the time came.
“Lockdown hadn’t even started but we went to ACT Health and said we had a close contact on campus and this is our plan, but their response was that everyone on campus was a secondary contact, therefore everyone had to be put in hard quarantine, so there was a bit of student pushback because it was really difficult for them,” Professor Smart said.
“We were able to get them out of quarantine when they tested negative, but we had another close contact and had to go back in, so we came up with our bubble model, so we were able to gradually get back to giving them more and more alignment with the rest of Canberrans’ limited freedoms.”
The bubble model, which was developed and adapted by ANU, sees the students on campus divided into smaller, household groups.
“One hall has several hundred people living in it, so rather than having that be a whole household, we made smaller household groups we called bubbles and students can do things around the residence but only in their bubbles,” she said.
Generally speaking, Professor Smart has found that students have settled into the routine. Although there will always be people who find the restrictions more difficult than others, she said she has been listening to their concerns to try and make life more liveable.
The University has also adapted a four-tiered pyramid system to alert students of what the current campus resident restrictions are, with clear indications of the expectations.
Professor Smart said she speaks to ACT Health several times a day and has a great close working relationship with them to do her job of balancing what she sees as a risk to students as well as risks to the Canberra community, while trying to make life as easy as possible for students.
The mental health of ANU students is of high concern, and a comprehensive program has been established to support students and staff during these difficult times.
Wellbeing checks, counselling, and peer support has been established for all students, not just those on campus, and academic support for students struggling with their course loads.
Professor Smart said students have been overall pretty great and they understand why the restrictions and rules are in place.
“No one is perfect, but generally they’ve been compliant and following settings and rules and have been patient while we’ve been working through everything with ACT Health,” she said.
The ANU Students’ Association has been contacted for comment.
Get all the latest Canberra news, sport, entertainment, lifestyle, competitions and more delivered straight to your inbox with the Canberra Daily Daily Newsletter. Sign up here.
For more news:
