Students forced to self-isolate

Two UoB students were forced to selfisolate after a positive Coronavirus test result within the University.

Ida Ruth Nyame and Dimitra Vasileiou are both third-year Creative Writing and Journalism students, who had to isolate when a positive Coronavirus test result was returned from one of Ida’s flatmates in early October.

Explaining how she found out she needed to selfisolate, Ida said: “I got a call from my estate agents, saying that one of my flatmates had tested positive for Covid.”

After spending a lot of time in Ida’s flat, Dimitra knew that she could be a possible carrier of the virus and would also need to self-isolate.

At present, Luton’s Coronavirus case rate stands at more than 200 per 100,000 people – an infection rate that is among the highest in the East of England.

For both Ida and Dimitra, the period of self-isolation came with loneliness and anxiety.

Ida said: “I had a lot of anxiety when I was selfisolating.

“I wondered if I had Covid because, even though I was really vigilant in keeping safe, my flat is really small, and it is practically always busy [with people] – any of them could have it and be asymptomatic.

“My mind basically took me to dark places.

“I really missed hanging out with my friends because, (Credit: Katy Lelliott)

even though I got tested and it came out negative, I was still living with a person who was positive – a fact made really clear when another of my flatmates tested positive.”

The implications of Coronavirus have meant that many students have chosen not to return to the U.K. to continue their studies.

This has meant that international student Dimitra felt lonely even before having to self-isolate.

She said: “I am not interacting with many since I came back for this semester.

One of my closest friends decided not to return to the U.K. at all – understandably so.

“Another one lives in London, which may not be far but, again, money is an issue.

“I’ve been feeling pretty lonely even before I started self-isolating – and stressed, very stressed.”

Despite many students either choosing not to return to campus for their studies, or being forced to self-isolate, the University of Bedfordshire has chosen not to move teaching completely online.

Instead, the University has opted for a ‘blended learning’ approach, with teaching being conducted as a mixture of online and face-to-face learning.

This has posed challenges for both Ida and Dimitra, who were forced to miss weeks of classes during their allimportant final year of study.

Dimitra said: “I don’t like missing classes.

“It’s less than a year until I graduate, and grades are more important than before.

“I believe I managed to keep up with them well, though I still don’t understand why the in-class lessons fordshire is offering students free Coronavirus testing to get them home for the Christmas break.

For those travelling home to spend Christmas with their friends and families, UoB are offering students and staff free Lateral Flow antigen tests.

Lateral Flow antigen tests are a new kind of technology that can be used to test a higher proportion of asymptomatic people – those who are cannot combine video-calls with in-person attendance.

“Some students have decided not to return to Luton and combined classes would be very helpful to them.”

However, despite the challenges posed by having to self-isolate and miss classes, Ida believes that the University have mostly handled the pandemic well.

She said: “The rooms have been arranged to ensure social distancing during lecturers, the use of face masks have been enforced on the premises and the library is also well-managed.”

A University of Bedfordshire spokesperson explained about cases within UoB and what the University is doing to support students who are self-isolating.

They said: “The University is committed to sharing regular updates on Coronavirus cases within its community and they are updated regularly every infectious with the virus but do not know about it because they have no symptoms.

UoB will host an NHS Test and Trace facility at both the Bedford and Luton campuses.

Students are asked to book two tests, three days apart, and if both tests return as negative then students should look to return to their non-term time address within 24 hours.

If the student returns a positive result, they are asked to self-isolate and take Friday on our website.

“At present we have 26 students who have tested positive, but all are doing well and are self-isolating to keep their fellow students safe.

“If a student has symptoms, tests positive for the virus or has been advised to self-isolate, they must notify a Return to Campus advisor immediately and not come on to campus.

“An advisor will then be in touch to identify anyone they may have come into contact with and complete a Student Care Plan to identify any support needs while they are self-isolating.

“The Care Plan should be followed alongside NHS and government advice which is widely available online.”

Should you need to selfisolate, you can contact the Return to Campus Advisors at returntocampus@beds.

The University of Bed-

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a PCR test (a test used to directly detect the presence of an antigen, rather than the presence of antibodies).

UoB anticipate that most students who return a positive result will still be able to return to their non-term time address before Christmas.

Testing will take place between 30th November and 9th December 2020 and you can visit beds.ac.uk/coronavirus/covid-testing to find out more and learn how you can register for testing.