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Scenes of crowded entertainment districts and bars on the first weekend of many college students returning to campus raise new questions about safety during the Coronavirus pandemic and if college football can be played this year. In Tuscaloosa, where bars are due to close at 11 p.m. this fall to help stem the spread of the virus, Uber driver Ray Allen told a columnist for The Tuscaloosa News that crowds were moving into homes once the nightclubs are closing. Most students “care less” about wearing masks, Allen said.
“I see him every night,” he says. “It’s a party going on.”
Vasha Hunt / AP
Crowds gathered in an area near campus called The Strip, and University of Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne tweeted a photo showing dozens of people, many of whom were not wearing masks or staying in away from others, waiting to enter a popular bar.
“Who wants college sports this fall? Obviously not these folks! We have to do better than that for each other and for our campus community. Please wear your masks!” Byrne said in a tweet on Sunday.
In response to Byrne’s post, Mayor Walt Maddox tweeted: “Why? We’re desperately trying to protect @tuscaloosacity – We’re trying to have a college football season.”
Maddox wrote that police and firefighters must now show up early and “actively enforce” pandemic regulations. “It’s such a shame that our officers who are spread across town and working till exhaustion can’t get a few hours of downtime,” Maddox said on Twitter.
Maddox said wearing a mask and practicing social distancing wasn’t much to ask for in order to protect yourself and others, reported WIAT, a CBS affiliate.
Tuscaloosa police officers issued 12 citations for mask violations and arrested four people, but the problem was not limited to the University of Alabama: photos on social media also showed large crowds and relatively few masks around Auburn University over the weekend.
Public health officials fear that the crowds on college campuses, combined with the resumption of elementary to high school classes, will increase the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
While some campuses offer classes primarily online, and some college sports leagues have canceled fall sports, the Southeastern Conference – which includes Alabama and Auburn – is moving forward with plans to play matches from September 26. The league planned to announce its revised game schedule on Monday.
Universities have adopted rules intended to enforce the wearing of masks and social distancing on campus, and Alabama has a statewide rule requiring masks in public places. But the rules are ignored.
More than 104,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Alabama and at least 1,830 have died from the disease, which usually causes only mild to moderate symptoms but is particularly dangerous for the elderly and the elderly. suffering from other health problems.
Meanwhile, “CBS This Morning” senior national correspondent David Begnaud reports that four clusters of COVID-19 have been reported at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Since students started arriving two weeks ago, several videos have appeared online showing students at off-campus parties or gathering in crowds. Now, exposed or infected students are placed in isolation.
A student with COVID-like symptoms who asked to remain anonymous told Begnaud that she was doing her best to practice social distancing.
“I wore a mask pretty much 24/7, I really don’t know where I could have gotten it,” she said. “I have the impression that the choices of a few really had an impact on all the students.
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