Life inside UNC's 'Covid dorm'
He entered Chapel Hill as a freshman with high hopes. Three weeks later, he has Covid and is quarantined with trail mix, no RAs and new Covid-positive friends.
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‘Like a normal college dorm, except no one can leave’; tuna and cookies, lots of hanging out and a low-key birthday
UNC’s Parker residence hall is one of two dorms the university set aside for students with Covid. But the number of cases quickly exceeded predictions, leading UNC to move classes online and close regular residence halls. The university has reported 645 positive cases so far in August. (Ledger photo by Emily Mecia.)
For college students and their parents, the last few weeks have been a frustrating and bewildering time. Universities welcomed students and tried to impose sensible restrictions to stop the spread of Covid. But many were quickly overwhelmed with new cases, and in the last two weeks, some of North Carolina’s largest colleges have hastily moved all classes online and shut their dorms.
This is the story of one college student who has a more extraordinary tale than most. He graduated from a Charlotte high school in June and looked forward to starting college at UNC-Chapel Hill. He found a roommate from another Charlotte high school, and they linked up with six other incoming freshmen to share a four-bedroom suite in a residence hall on UNC’s South Campus.
But on Aug. 17, in just the second week of classes, UNC announced it was shifting all classes online and shutting its dorms as Covid cases multiplied. While many of his fellow students left town and headed home, though, he stayed: He had tested positive for Covid and was ordered into isolation — first at a local hotel, then later in one of two UNC dorms designated for students with Covid.
The Ledger’s Tony Mecia spoke with him this week by phone about his journey from eager freshman to quarantined patient and how his roller-coaster last month has stacked up against his expectations. Because of the stigma surrounding Covid, and to be able to speak more freely about his experience, the student requested that The Ledger not identify him, and we agreed.
Here is the story in his words, edited for brevity and clarity:
Before I left Charlotte, I didn’t have any huge expectations. I was just so relieved that we were able to go on campus. I just wanted to go to college. I was ready to start something new.
When I moved in, my roommate couldn’t move in at the same time. They limited the number of people who could move in at once. It was kind of strange, because I was moving in and it was just my parents and me.
After I got moved in and my parents left, it was a big adjustment. I was excited but also nervous. It took me a week or two to adjust. I never was really homesick, but I definitely learned to appreciate a lot of the things my parents had done for me. It was a lot of changes at once.
Mask rules: Everyone was wearing a mask. On South Campus, people would get dirty looks if they were not wearing a mask, and the RAs (resident advisors) would come out of their rooms and tell people to put on a mask if they were not wearing one. So that precedent was set from the beginning. Overall, people were pretty safe. People were trying, for the most part, to do the right thing.
There were fraternity parties. They happened at off-campus houses. It was like no one was wearing a mask. People were packed into a house. That was unsafe.
RAs made the rule that you had to wear a mask in the hallway of your own suite, so even around the people you’re sharing a bathroom with. They put in some super-strict rules. I don’t think anyone wore a mask to go to the bathroom, though.
It was kind of hard to find stuff to do because they didn't have a lot of events for freshmen to meet each other. We ended up going to the Battle House almost every day. It’s a Christian study center. They had a big tent set up outside that we just hung out at with good social distancing and people with masks and everything.
And upperclassmen that I knew or that other people knew would come and hang out with us or pick us up. We’d go up to the roof of a parking deck across from our building and hang out. People would bring skateboards or Frisbees. We met a lot of freshmen there.
It was definitely weird. You’d wake up in the morning and have no plans. Classes hadn’t started. There were no events. We had to find ways to meet other people. It made the transition a little harder because it wasn’t like we were busy the whole time. It was like, “Let’s take a walk to Franklin Street and get some ice cream.” Usually they have a week of welcome and FallFest, but we didn’t have that.
It started with a headache: Last Tuesday, as it was becoming apparent that they were closing the dorms and you had to move out, we started to look for other options off-campus. The next day, I was feeling like I had a headache. I just wasn’t feeling well. My stomach hurt. I just assumed it was because of stress and not eating well and not sleeping well.
And then the next day, I woke up and I was not feeling well at all. I had chills and a stuffy nose. I stayed in my bed all day. That afternoon, I had a 102 degree fever, so I went to campus health. I got tested, and they were like, “Since you had a test, we have to put you in quarantine.” My mom was freaking out a little bit. At first, you hear you’re going to live in a quarantine dorm and there are people walking around in hazmat suits to clean it, so you freak out a little bit.
After a spike in Covid cases at UNC, cleaners were spotted around campus wearing protective gear, like this worker in Morrison residence hall.
But they put me in the Courtyard by Marriott hotel. It’s a nice hotel. It had a clean bed, a nice bathroom, a big flat-screen TV. It was great compared to my dorm. I watched a lot of TV. I watched all of “Outer Banks.” A friend dropped off some groceries. Someone else dropped me off Chipotle.
A couple days later, they called me and said, “You tested positive and by 12:30 this afternoon, we would like you to be in Parker residence hall. Call this number, and we'll send a van to come pick you up to move you there.”
I thought about whether I should go home, but once I got my test back, they gave me two hours to move into the isolation dorm. It happened too quickly for me to leave.
I had brought enough clothes to the hotel to get me through 10 days. I couldn’t go back to my dorm to pick anything else up. I had to go straight to Parker, a dorm next to the football stadium, which was set aside for students who tested positive.
They showed up in a big minivan. They took out the middle row, and they put a huge plastic shield between the front two seats and the back. The door opens automatically, so you don’t have to touch anything. And they ride with the windows down.
Since I was at the hotel, they knew I didn’t have sheets or a blanket. They gave me a set of sheets and this terrible blanket and a terrible pillow and a towel. And I’ve been sleeping on a rock-hard mattress all week. Everyone has their own room.
As it turned out, five of the guys in my suite tested positive. The two others had moved out before. I have no idea how I got it. In the days before I started showing symptoms, I hadn’t gone to any fraternity parties or big events.
Life in the Covid dorm: Here, there are no RAs, no adults in the building. We can hang out. People can be loud at night. We’ve just been hanging out in each other’s suites. It’s just the kids who tested positive.
When I got here, it wasn’t that full. It was about half capacity. Now, they’re almost full. It’s pretty packed. My roommate is in the room next to mine. We’ve just been hanging out and meeting the people that are also positive in the dorm.
Technically, we’re not really in full isolation because everyone else here is positive. You can be around this dorm and not feel like you’re threatening others.
Nothing is stopping us from leaving the building, but we’re not allowed to. I could walk out of the building right now and go walking around campus, and no one would ever know. But that’s not the safe, responsible thing to do, because then I could infect other people.
Dorm food: In the isolation dorm, like at the hotel, they give you one bag of food per day. It has a thing of yogurt, a sandwich that tastes like rubber, a bunch of snacks and one meal — kind of like an airplane meal with chicken and rice or potatoes or something. And then they give you a lot of prepackaged, processed snacks, like trail mix and Grandma's cookies. And a thing of packaged orange juice and a thing of tuna. Everyone complains about the food.
A lot of people order their dinner to be delivered by Postmates. I order out one meal per day, probably — Chipotle, Panera, some of the local restaurants. I have a couple of friends who can’t taste anything. They’re the ones who eat the most food out of the food they give us, because they can’t taste it.
Covid food: UNC supplies daily rations to students who are quarantining or in isolation because of Covid. This photo is from the freshman student from Charlotte we spoke with, taken while he was quarantining at a Courtyard by Marriott.
I wish the food was better. I wish that I had brought my bedding. I’m also missing exercising, and there’s not a TV in here. So I have to do everything on my laptop. It would be nice to go and study around campus, too.
I’ve actually had decent community here — more than I would if I were isolated somewhere where I couldn’t talk to anyone. Earlier this week, they emailed us and said we each might be getting a roommate. So it follows the safety guidelines of the county for two Covid-positive people to be roommates.
I had my birthday while I was here in quarantine. I just kind of hung out. A couple people dropped off small Harris Teeter cakes. It was a pretty low-key birthday.
I’ve met a lot of people. I’m definitely glad I’ve gotten these experiences and got plugged into campus a little bit. I’ve also gotten ahead on my schoolwork. It just feels like a normal college dorm, except no one can leave. People will crack jokes about the food and complain a little bit. Everyone here is bonded by the fact that we all have Covid. So there’s kind of a little bit of a camaraderie that’s been fun.
I definitely wouldn’t take it back and personally for me, it was not fun being sick for two days, but I’m healthy now. Hopefully, it won’t have long-term effects.
Having Covid, it’s not a stigma for people in Chapel Hill because it’s just gone rampant through Chapel Hill. But when I tell people from home, they assume you were going to the huge fraternity parties or you were doing something unsafe or you were being a stupid college student and not wearing a mask. It’s kind of frustrating because I don’t know how I got it. I was being comparatively safe. I was wearing my mask. I wasn’t going to the huge parties.
I’m glad I did the responsible thing when I had those symptoms. I know people that just ignore their symptoms and don’t get tested. That’s probably what has led to the spread of the virus from campus, because some people don’t want to quarantine. They don’t want to be stuck in a residence hall for 10 days.
People should know that everyone who came on campus knew the risk of getting the virus. They didn’t expect it to happen this quickly. The university definitely messed up, but a lot of it is students being irresponsible. But what do you expect from college students?
It is what it is. I don’t think the university should be fully blamed. I don’t think the students should be fully blamed. I think it’s a mix. It’s hard to make decisions during a pandemic. Nobody knows how their choices are going to affect others and what that’s going to look like.
The student is scheduled to remain in isolation through today. After leaving UNC’s Covid dorm, he plans to move into an off-campus apartment this weekend with several of his suitemates.
Today’s supporting sponsor is Soni Brendle:
Teen talk: Build your vocabulary
Impress and delight the young people in your life by using the words they use. The Ledger shows you how in this occasional Saturday feature.
Today’s word: CAP (verb or noun, depending on usage)
Pronunciation: Kap
Definition: a lie; to lie
Used in a sentence:
“Jacob said his dog can do algebra, but that’s cap.”
“Everything you are saying is cap.”
Additional comment: Cap can be used as a replacement for the word “lie,” and when saying it, you wouldn’t say “a” before it like “that’s a cap,” you would just say “that’s cap.” It’s often used with a preceding “no,” to signify something that’s true, or not a lie. “I can do a double backflip, no cap,” for example, means “I can actually do a backflip.”
Ledger analysis: Seems to be analogous in some respects to the age-old “liar, liar pants on fire” adage, and certainly more succinct. NBA star Kevin Durant gave the term big exposure in 2019 when he used it to call out a reporter on Twitter.
— Andrew Bolling, age 13
This week in Charlotte: RNC comes to town, body cam footage released, Ronnie Long out of prison after 44 years
On Saturdays, The Ledger sifts through the local news of the week and links to the top articles — even if they appeared somewhere else. We’ll help you get caught up. That’s what Saturdays are for.
Politics
RNC comes and goes: (WBTV, Observer) The Charlotte portion of the Republican National Convention wrapped up Monday with surprise visits from President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. The convention proceedings at the Charlotte Convention Center were attended by six delegates from each state and territory, amounting to 336 delegates total. On Friday, Mecklenburg County Health Department officials said two attendees and two support staff at the convention had tested positive for Covid.
Education
CMS re-opening panel: (WFAE) The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools advisory panel tasked with looking at how and when to re-open schools says air quality inside schools is an issue that needs to be addressed. The Metrics Advisory Panel (which had been called the “medical advisory team” but was renamed after a reporter pointed out that there were only four doctors on the 14-member panel) met Thursday for the second time. Members said CMS should keep an eye on how re-openings are going in neighboring school districts and private schools that are bringing students back, and think about social distancing concerns on buses.
Drive-up WiFi: (WFAE) Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is offering drive-up WiFi at seven locations across the county for students who don’t have access to the internet.
Local news
Body cam footage released: (Agenda) Body cam footage released Wednesday showed that Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police intentionally directed and cornered uptown protesters before firing tear gas on them on June 2. In the footage, one officer is heard saying police were about to “hammer their ass” from two locations, and orchestrating plans for a “bottle-neck.” The incident had sparked widespread condemnation and calls for the police department to reform its policies. “We’re human. There’s always going to be mistakes that are made. I think what we need to be judged by is how do we get better after mistakes are made and how do we better serve our community?” CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings said during a news conference Wednesday.
Ronnie Long released: (Observer) Ronnie Long, an African-American man from Concord who was convicted of raping a white woman in the 1970s, had his conviction vacated and was released from prison Thursday after 44 years behind bars. Long had maintained his innocence but was convicted in 1976 by an all-white jury that included members who had connections to the victim, a 54-year-old widow of a former textile executive. Decades of appeals were supported by proof that police, state officials and the prosecutor withheld key evidence from Long’s lawyers at his trial.
Alcohol confusion: The enforcement of alcohol rules during Covid is causing some confusion. First, local law enforcement and Mecklenburg County seem to disagree about whether people are allowed to sit at bars or whether that violates county orders. Second, there’s lingering uncertainty over whether private bars are allowed to be open and sell alcohol. (WSOC, Queen City Nerve)
Uptick in dining out: (Ledger) According to a Ledger analysis of publicly available data from OpenTable, the number of sit-down diners in restaurants has shot up in the last three weeks. In the last week, the number of sit-down diners in Charlotte was down 45% compared with a year ago — a marked improvement from being down more than 60% year-over-year, as it was for most of July.
Business
More Ballantyne apartments: (Ledger) A 455-unit apartment and townhouse development has been proposed for Ballantyne, on the corner of Johnston and Marvin roads. According to documents filed with the city on Tuesday, Crescent Communities is seeking a rezoning for a 19-acre parcel across the street from a new hospital that Novant Health plans to break ground on in the next few months.
Lumber shortage: (Ledger, subscriber-only) Lumber is in short supply and prices have skyrocketed, resulting in trouble for builders trying to keep up with construction demand. There are several reasons behind the shortages, including cutbacks at mills due to Covid, beetles that are decimating forests in British Columbia and wildfires. “Not even during Hugo was it this bad,” said Web Hatley of Queen City Lumber, referring to the 1989 hurricane that devastated Charlotte. “That’s the only thing I could compare it to, and it wasn’t like this.”
Ally Charlotte Center from the sky: (Ledger) This week’s Flyover Friday takes you to the bustling Stonewall Street corridor, to give you a birds-eye view of the new 26-story building that will house the Charlotte operations of Ally Financial as well as the headquarters of Crescent Communities.
Real estate change-of-plans: (Ledger) LoSo Station, a planned mixed-use development by Beacon Partners near the Scaleybark light rail station, is apparently up for sale. Beacon was supposed to start building the office/retail site this summer, and a rendering earlier this year showed it would include a 15-story office tower. The word among local real estate types is that Vanguard Group was primed to take a bunch of the office space but backed away in March when the pandemic hit.
Sports
Private school sports resume: (Observer) The N.C. Independent Schools Athletic Association said North Carolina’s private schools can begin play the week of Sept. 8 in cross-country, girls tennis and golf. The week of Sept. 14, field hockey, volleyball and boys soccer will return. High school football practice can begin the week of Sept. 8 and high school football games can begin the week of Sept. 21.
News you can use
Psychiatrist Q&A: (Ledger) The Ledger hosted an online chat Wednesday with Novant psychiatrist Dr. Sashalee Stewart, who took questions about how parents can protect their mental health while juggling all the pandemic is throwing at them: online schooling, being with kids 24/7, and keeping calm amidst all the stress.
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Executive editor: Tony Mecia; Managing editor: Cristina Bolling; Contributing editor: Tim Whitmire; Reporting intern: David Griffith