On February 26th, Trinity students received an email from Tess Coody-Anders informing them of the increase in Covid cases on campus. There are now 53 people quarantining in Trinity’s main campus and City Vista combined.

What happens if you or someone you know becomes one of the 53 Trinity students quarantining at Trinity? Well, two Trinity students relayed their experiences isolating at Trinity, their interactions with the Covid team, and the services Trinity provided.

One of these Trinity students, a sophomore named Jacy Haynes, spoke about isolating in the residence halls.

“Me and my suitemate got really sick. I ended up having bronchitis, but wasn’t allowed to go to health service until tested for Covid. We had two rounds of rapid tests and got cleared after a week,” said Haynes.

The other student, Jake Perry, is a junior at Trinity, and he had to isolate in City Vista after he tested positive for Covid.

“My test came back positive….[so] I called the Trinity Covid people and they had me go through the isolation procedures. [I was] isolated in City Vista in a single room. I was alone, and I had to be in isolation for 10 days,” said Perry.

After contacting Trinity, they both received an information packet.

“They sent me a packet with the names and numbers of everyone who’s involved. Each person’s name also had a blurb about who they were. The packet also had a list of recommendations for things we could do,” said Perry.

The services provided to Haynes and Perry varied because students living in the residence halls aren’t able to be as self-reliant as students living in City Vista. For students living on campus, Trinity has to provide more services.

One of the differences between Haynes’ and Perry’s experiences is that the Covid team provided food for Haynes.

“They brought us food twice a day, lunch and dinner, and dinner came with breakfast for the next morning in a little box. They brought us almost the same thing every day: warm entree, salad, bottle of water, and piece of fruit for lunch. It was the same for dinner but with a desert. For breakfast, we got milk cereal, fruit, yogurt, granola. The food was ok. We didn’t get to choose it, but it was decent,” said Haynes.

The Covid team also helps Trinity students take care of things they would have to leave their room to do.

“They sent us an info sheet on how to do things like laundry. We had a case supervisor, and if we wanted laundry done, we would set it out and then email or text them. Then, they would come by and get it; it was the same for trash,” said Haynes.

However, while more services are provided for students living in the dorms, that doesn’t mean Trinity disregards students at City Vista.

“Dr. Plata, the doctor in charge of Covid, called me and checked on me. Nurses also checked on me every two days in isolation. Academic health and wellness coordinator Emma Phearse also scheduled a Zoom with me the day after I called to determine if I needed any academic arrangements. I saw her a few times, and she was very friendly. She also asked me about my feelings to gauge if I needed counseling services,” said Perry.

It seems the services were helpful to students like Perry.

“I was pretty happy with how they dealt with it. They gave me just enough independence to not feel smothered but enough help that I felt supported… Part of why I felt comfortable coming back to campus was that I knew they would take care of me. I’m glad I was here when I got sick and not at home,” said Perry.

While Trinity has an effective system in place to take care of students in isolation, the increase in Covid cases caused speculation that the amount of attention the students receive will decrease. However,assures us that the Covid team won’t have any problems handling the increase.

“At this time, based on the results of contact tracing and the ability of our care team to manage the current caseload, we are not recommending changes to campus operations,” said Coody-Anders.