‘tests are best way – no-one wants to give it to their family’
Plans are in place to evacuate students before Christmas. Abbie Wightwick and Anna Lewis have asked them what they think...
STUDENTS in Wales have reacted to plans to mass evacuate universities before Christmas.
Following the Welsh Government’s announcement on Wednesday, students should travel home no later than December 9 after having a new asymptomatic coronavirus test.
All learning will be moved to online from December 8, with students asked to “minimise” contact with others in the run-up to the end of term.
But students in first-year halls of residence have said they are worried about being able to social distance and the accuracy of new Covid-19 lateral flow tests.
Leyla Faris and Rosie Nolan are first-year students at Cardiff University.
While Rosie received a negative result after previously taking an asymptomatic test provided by the university, she tested positive for coronavirus after an NHS test result two days later.
She said: “I don’t think it will happen to be honest. I don’t think you can limit people being in contact with each other [before getting tested]. If they haven’t done it over lockdown I can’t see it happening.
“I was going to sneak back to England and quarantine for two weeks before seeing my grandparents. Luckily my close family don’t have any health conditions.
“You can’t quarantine here with people knocking on your door.”
Leyla added: “The tests the university were running are inaccurate. Rosie had one from the university which was negative and the NHS one was positive and that was in the space of two days. I never got my results, I’m still waiting. They haven’t been very good at communicating.”
Beth Cooper is also a first-year at Cardiff University. She has previously tested positive for coronavirus and said there had also been confusion between asymptomatic test results compared to NHS tests.
She said: “You don’t want to have to fake symptoms to get a proper test but you don’t want to go home worrying.
“I think tests are the best way. No-one wants to give it to their family; my dad has asthma and if I gave it to him I’d feel guilty. The only thing that would annoy me is if the test takes ages to get back.”
Talking about the need to minimise socialising, she added: “In halls it’s hard to cut down on the contact you have, everyone is on top of each other.
“You could do the right thing and be careful but you could have
a flatmate who want.”
On Wednesday Welsh Education Minister Kirsty Williams said new asymptomatic testing facilities will be made available at participating universities within the next few weeks. is doing what they
Students travelling home will be asked to take the test, ideally within 24 hours of their intended travel time.
But not everyone agrees with the plans for testing.
Speaking outside her halls of residence, Saoirse, a first-year Cardiff University
student, said: “I would prefer not to have a test: what’s the point if you don’t have symptoms? You should’ve have to. They want us all to be home the week after [English lockdown], it cuts out time.”
Third-year University of Wales Trinity
St David student Lucy Smith is also angry about the change back to online teaching and that students should leave by the next day if they want to go home for Christmas.
Living in university halls and with half her history and heritage course still to face on the Lampeter campus, Lucy said she feels short-changed.
Lucy, who is going home to Kent for Christmas, said: “Tuition fees should have been lowered for this year. I think students have been painted unfairly. There are no parties going on here.
“I think we should be allowed to stay until December 18 as planned. Yes there is a risk going home, but everything is a risk now, even going to the supermarket, and students are not the only people travelling home for Christmas.”
Jade Eastwood, 21, from Penarth, is in her third year studying geography at Reading University and said she doesn’t mind being asked to go home early to keep people safe.
However, she thinks students should have tuition fees reimbursed for disrupted teaching and not being able to use facilities such as libraries.
She said: “I would rather not go home early but it does seem safer to go after lockdown. All the students I know are being sensible. But I think students should get some sort of rebate.
“I only have had one hour of teaching a week online and none face to face this term. Some of my friends have three hours. It is not value for the money we are paying. It’s not worth £9,250 to have a Zoom call once a week.
“I am going to be sensible when I go home to Wales at Christmas anyway. I would not want to infect anyone.”
Najat Ruehl, 20, from Cardiff, in her second year studying law at Bristol University, said students had been “totally neglected” this term and some fees should be reimbursed.
“I would not have left Cardiff and would have studied from home if I had known what this term would be like. I have had no face-to-face teaching at all and have not stepped inside the university building.”
Back at Cardiff University one group of biomedicine students have been talking about the Christmas plans on their way to a class.
Their group included one student who lives in the Isle of Wight who says boats to the island have been cancelled, and another who is now trying to change her flights home to Romania after booking them for December 19.
One student said: “We’re a practical subject so we do have some face-toface learning.
“But by having our contact learning cut short it means there’s a chance we’re able to see our family over Christmas so it’s weighing up the different things.
“I wonder what will happen afterwards, when will they start teaching again?”
Toby Link-Jones has already isolated for three weeks after testing positive for coronavirus.
He said: “I was going to do the same thing anyway. I think it’s a good thing, I don’t think anyone wants to be here for Christmas.”