As Thanksgiving approaches, St. Thomas students face the tough decision whether to go home or stay on campus as the Minnesota Department of Health reported 282,916 total positive COVID-19 cases in the state Tuesday.

Campus may look more lively over the break after President Julie Sullivan urged students in a Nov. 19 email to consider staying on campus through Thanksgiving break if they wish to remain on campus through December.

If they ordered before Friday, students can pick up meals every day during the break, including a Thanksgiving meal on Thursday, Vice President of Student Affairs Karen Lange said.

“It’s just so students that are staying here for Thanksgiving have meals,” Lange said. “Some of our residence halls have kitchens, but some of them don’t.”

Around 150 St. Thomas residential students have ordered takeout meals for the holiday break, Lange said.

This is the first time the university is offering a holiday meal to students over the Thanksgiving break.

“The governor has said if you can stay for Thanksgiving to stay, so we probably have some students that are staying that wouldn’t normally,” Lange said. “So we just wanted to be able to provide them with opportunities for food.”

In an effort to further prevent holiday spread, the university offered free asymptomatic testing for the campus community on Nov. 18 and 19. Sophomore Adrian Brietzke took advantage of the testing to make sure he didn’t spread the virus to his parents when he went home.

“I know I’m going to be going back for Thanksgiving,” Brietzke said, “so I just want to make sure that I don’t have (COVID-19) when I go back.”

St. Thomas does not plan to close campus after the break. After Thanksgiving break, Sullivan wrote in her email that the university plans to hold another mass testing event. Though another option Sullivan cited for students was to go home and stay through December.

Some students, like sophomore Katie Wanders, are opting to go home and stay home.

“My main worry was being exposed to COVID and having to quarantine over Christmas,” Wanders said. “Me and my two other roommates will be going home to our families, some of us might see friends from other universities who are coming home for the holidays, and it just kind of sounds like a high risk of potentially being exposed if I were to come back.”

Though most classes are already meeting over Zoom, in her email Sullivan urged students to communicate with their professors if they plan to stay home for the remainder of the semester.

“We realize these are difficult choices; ultimately, every family must decide what is best for their unique situations,” Sullivan wrote.

Emily Haugen can be reached at haug7231@stthomas.edu.
Justin Amaker can be reached at justin.amaker@stthomas.edu.
Mia Laube can be reached at mia.laube@stthomas.edu.
Ava Wilk can be reached at ava.wilk@stthomas.edu.