{"id":5117,"date":"2020-02-16T16:36:07","date_gmt":"2020-02-16T12:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/?p=5117"},"modified":"2020-02-16T16:36:09","modified_gmt":"2020-02-16T12:36:09","slug":"the-coronavirus-on-campus-how-much-should-we-worry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/the-coronavirus-on-campus-how-much-should-we-worry\/","title":{"rendered":"The Coronavirus on Campus: How Much Should We Worry?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cCoronavirus\u201d was the first word that came on Mariana\u2019s mind when she suddenly felt sick after the U.A.E. announced its first cases of coronavirus. She recalls immediately going to the hospital, missing a day of university and work. She spent the night at the hospital, only for the tests to reveal that she was not infected with the virus. Mariana, of course, felt relieved and decided that some of her daily life\u2019s habits were worth changing, in the name of staying clear from the coronavirus.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mariana Abou Haidar wearing a mask in a hallway of a building in the American University in Dubai on February 10, 2020. Mais Othman.

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\u201cI started drinking garlic and honey shots to raise my immune system, and I bought masks and gloves to wear them all day. Until now, I don\u2019t shake hands or get close to anyone,\u201d says Mariana Abou Haidar, a 19-year-old Lebanese student at the American University in Dubai. \u201cI also keep sanitizer products with me, and stopped using the metro, because I\u2019m still scared. I\u2019d rather take a cab, and pay all my allowance money on it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the coronavirus outbreak was announced, several AUD students were seen wearing masks on campus. AUD also started sending emails –four in total– to its students, staff, and faculty, announcing the addition of sanitizers across campus, more cleaning measures, along with tips on health practices. Some people on campus believe that such measures are necessary to be taken by the university to reassure the students, and some believe that this is exaggerating the coronavirus issue in the U.A.E.
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One of the many sanitizers placed around the American University in Dubai campus on February 10, 2020. Mais Othman.

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\u201cIt\u2019s a way of reassuring students, because the university has to send and inform their students. Also, they added something new in each email, so they weren\u2019t the same,\u201d said Mariana. \u201cI now see the cleaners on campus really cleaning more, and even when I went to the nurse one day, she gave me a mask, so the university\u2019s trying to do as much as it can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Nelly Halabi, the university\u2019s health center director, recalls three students rushing into her office to get masks when the coronavirus was becoming known. She explained that they don\u2019t need masks if they themselves weren\u2019t sick, but if the students insisted on getting a mask, she gave it to them to calm them down. She also mentions the need for sending students multiple emails about this topic not only to calm them down, but also because many students don\u2019t read the emails they receive, and many are unaware of the virus too.
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Nelly Halabi sitting in her office at the American University in Dubai on February 10, 2020. Mais Othman. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe tried sending out posters and emails. I also went to some classes to talk about the virus with students, and I\u2019m now waiting for a doctor\u2019s confirmation to organize a lecture about the virus on campus,\u201d says Ms. Halabi in an interview. \u201cWe had two trips to South Korea and Japan for students, and I had a meeting with the president to cancel them. We also sent an email asking those on campus who visited China to keep us posted, so we are doing all our best to spread awareness on campus.\u201d
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Dr. David Schmidt sitting in his office at the American University in Dubai on February 10, 2020. Mais Othman. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Dr. David Schmidt, the university\u2019s president, adds to the discussion on AUD\u2019s precautions when it comes to coronavirus. \u201cAs an institution within a large city, we are definitely concerned and vigilant about it. Particularly because we are a campus, where we have commuters that come and go, we\u2019re not blind to it,\u201d says Dr. Schmidt in an interview. \u201cWe were really sensitive to not causing panic, so the first two emails never used the word \u2018coronavirus,\u2019 just health practices. At the end of the day, our job is to protect our students.\u201d
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\u00a0Yasmine Naccache, a 20-year-old Lebanese AUD student, is more critical about the way the university and students are reacting to the coronavirus. \u201cI think it\u2019s being blown out of proportion, because, yes, there are nationalities from all around the world in the UAE, but what is the likelihood that you come in contact with someone who has coronavirus? The mask is just adding another layer of worry that intensifies the situation to make it seem bigger than it is,\u201d says Yasmine in an interview. \u201cAlso, sending emails everyday to students about the virus is not as effective as the university would like it to be, and it\u2019s just redundant and weak at this point, because I saw the first email about coronavirus, and then the second one, but what are the third and fourth for?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yasmine Naccache posing in a class at the American University in Dubai on February 9, 2020. Mais Othman. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mariana believes that the coronavirus is still something to be worried about, and she believes that AUD should keep up what it\u2019s doing about the coronavirus. \u201cI want AUD to send us another email soon with the latest updates about this disease to inform us more, since it feels like somehow, many forgot about it,\u201d says Mariana as her eyes widen.

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Edited by: Raghad Murad <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cCoronavirus\u201d was the first word that came on Mariana\u2019s mind when she suddenly felt sick…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[48],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5117"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5117"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5124,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5117\/revisions\/5124"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5117"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5117"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mbrsc.aud.edu\/MBRSCPost\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}