Zoom in on the first day of online classes

Alex Appel, Emeritus Editor-in-Chief
March 30, 2020

This morning Union students and faculty logged in to Zoom for their first online classes. Due to the ongoing COVID-19, or coronavirus, pandemic, the College is going digital for the term, President David Harris announced in an email sent to the campus on Tuesday, March 17. Classes will be facilitated through Zoom, a remote conferencing service. 

All students were asked to gather all of their belongings and leave the school by March 22, according to an email sent by Harris on March 20. 61 students are expected to stay on campus, but that number may decrease. “Staffing is only the minimal essential personnel needed to support the students and the few buildings that remain partially open,” according to College Spokesman Phil Wajda. All students are in College Park Hall, Wajda wrote in the email.

“The first day of online classes started off with a bit of stress, since I had a few issues with Zoom and was a bit late for my first class at 9:15… My next two classes went well today, with some adjustments we all had to make. It’s a trying time, but with everyone’s patience and flexibility, the term should go well,” Senior Lecturer in English and Russian Anastasia Pease wrote in an email.
“The students were very gracious and patient, and seeing them/hearing their voices was a real treat. More than ever I realize how much the campus community means to me, and how much I miss seeing my students and colleagues,” she went on to write. “We all will doubtlessly learn a lot—about ourselves, about each other, and about Life. Talk about combining your schooling and your education! Ad astra per aspera! Through hardships to the stars!”

“The spring term won’t be easy, because multiple tomorrows and that which makes us uncomfortable never are. I have no doubt that together we will find ways to exceed expectations. I also have no doubt that we will learn important lessons about ourselves and our community that will prepare us to thrive through the challenges and opportunities that await after current crises have become memories,” Harris wrote in an email sent out to campus yesterday, March 29. 

On March 12 a member of the Union College staff was diagnosed with coronavirus; that person is “recovering well,” Harris went on to state in that email.

Over 60,000 coronavirus cases were diagnosed in New York state, 34,000 of which were in New York City, the John Hopkins Corona Resource Center (John Hopkins CRC) found. Every county in the state, except Seneca, has at least one diagnosed case; there have been 489 diagnosis and four deaths in the Capital Region—which includes Schenectady County—according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. 1,000 deaths were in New York state, almost 800 of which were in New York City, according to the John Hopkins CRC.

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo predicts that the number of cases in New York City will peak in the next 14 to 21 days, while the rest of the state will experience a “rolling apex,” the Syracuse local news website, Syracuse.com reported.

The United States currently leads the world in coronavirus cases, with over 122,653 people diagnosed in the country as of Sunday, March 29, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Across the country 2,500 have died from the virus, while almost 5,000 people have recovered, according to the John Hopkins CRC. 

Remission is not always permanent: in Wuhan, China, where the virus originated, five to 10 percent of patients who recovered from COVID-19 have tested positive for the virus again, according to the National Public Radio.