Pictured Above: USF COVID-19 total number of cases since Mar. 18. In Tampa, 224 cases were reported. In St. Petersburg, 12 cases were reported. In Sarasota-Manatee, five cases were reported. In total, the USF system reported 241 cases.
Patrick Tobin | The Crow’s Nest
By Trevor Martindale
One week into the fall semester, USF is already seeing positive COVID-19 cases on campuses.
Since classes began on Aug. 24, USF St. Petersburg has reported one new case while Tampa has reported five. Sarasota-Manatee has reported no new cases since Aug. 24. In the same time period, Florida recorded 20,923 new cases.
In accordance with USF’s Return to Campus plan, classes are being administered through various instructional methods including in person, hybrid blend, primarily distance learning and fully online.
Students have had mixed reactions to their first week experiences because of the different mediums of learning.
Brandon Castle, a junior accounting major, expressed discontent with online learning while also understanding the burden it puts on professors.
“The professors are doing their best, but some of them have clearly never done this before,” Castle said. “I had one professor who forgot to record his lecture and he was like: ‘oops.’”
Castle also voiced concern with online exams.
“I am not enjoying having Proctorio for everything I do,” Castle said. “Having proctored exams feels weird.”
Third-year biology major Madison Delgado is happy with the online format, but underwhelmed by courses conducted asynchronously.
“The lack of available live lectures is disheartening and dilutes the learning experience,” Delgado said.
Science majors are required to take labs with their science courses, which often require hands-on experiments.
Junior biology major Angel Albizu is taking an in person lab and he believes it has been handled well so far.
“Overall, for what the experience was worth, the (lab) was handled fairly,” Albizu said. “Future labs that we have in person will require us to wear even more (personal protective equipment) including goggles, gloves and a lab coat.”
Delgado echoed this sentiment.
“I’m taking one in person lab this semester: Organic Chemistry I and it was well organized,” Delgado said. “Students were asked to clean their stations using a three-step process upon leaving the lab after class. Masks were always requested to remain on.”
Sophomore political science major Zac Axel disapproves of the return to campus altogether.
“I feel that the decision to offer any in person courses is irresponsible,” Axel said in an email to The Crow’s Nest. “This school and any school’s first priority should be safety.”
With the first week of classes down, USF St. Petersburg has 13 weeks of in person classes remaining as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.
