Cornell Study Makes Case for College to Return to Campus this Fall

There have been debates about all levels of schooling this Fall amidst the coronavirus. Just this afternoon, we saw Senator Rand Paul make the case for daycare and grade school to resume. Now, as noted by Bloomberg, Cornell has released a study indicating their belief that coronavirus would be 2-10 times likely to spread if they hold classes online instead of in-person.

The Cornell study relies on a couple of factors. First, there is a belief that many of their students would return to Ithaca to live in off-campus housing whether or not there is in-person instruction. Secondly, if Cornell does have in-person classes, they would be regulating their student population with testing that could better catch asymptomatic cases that would thus limit the spread.

Here is the key part of Cornell's summary of the study:

We're going to see this debate play out thousands of times with regards to whether to proceed not just with college, but college athletics. I hadn't previously considered the idea that in-person instruction would beget more robust testing and regulatory protocols, and it's a very interesting argument.