Since the lockdowns across the globe began in March, for generations, what used to be the “college life” for students has changed into the draconian New ABnormal in just a few months.
To fight the COVID War, college “authorities” must know how you feel, where you are, when you got there, who you were with, and where you’re going.
Beyond the new “must wear masks,” “must social distance,” “parties prohibited” and condemning “casual sex” (only non-casual sex is permitted in the new ABnormal), college administrations now will have a watchful eye on who’s going to the bathroom and what’s coming out – literally!
From sea to shining sea – Yale to the University of Arizona – across the nation, colleges have launched a “sewer surveillance” testing program of bathrooms for evidence of virus presence in feces.
Other mandatory surveillance strategies include saliva tests and health conditions reported each day using an app, in addition to monitoring students and faculty with campus-controlled computers as they enter classes and public spaces around campus.
Other testing methods noted in a 30 August New York Times article include a contact tracing app known as “Covid Watch” that “anonymously tracks students’ movements using Bluetooth technology: those who download the app will be notified if they have been in proximity to someone who has tested positive.”
And, in this age when the obedient majority marched off to fight the COVID War, the Times quoted a 19-year-old college sophomore who said she “was willing to sign on because ‘I’m a rule follower, and I don’t like getting sick.’”
Thus, not willing to think for herself, she is not concerned with COVID Police knowing:
Every breath you take and every move you make
Every bond you break, every step you take, I’ll be watching you
Every single day and every word you say
Every game you play, every night you stay, I’ll be watching you
Who Needs Facts
Is there any scientific evidence that these surveillance techniques, which invade the private lives of college students, will have any significant effect at slowing the spread of the coronavirus?
Not according to the CDC: “Testing of all students, faculty, and staff for COVID-19 before allowing campus entry (entry testing) has not been systematically studied. It is unknown if entry testing in institutions of higher learning provides any additional reduction in person-to-person transmission of the virus.”