“On the face of it, the NBA and Amherst College have little in common. Except this: Both organizations have resumed in-person activities amidst COVID by forming a so-called ‘bubble,’” wrote Lee Clifford in Fortune magazine on Sept. 5.
Clifford’s article details many of the measures Amherst has been taking to prevent the spread of the virus, both within the boundaries of the campus itself—beyond which students are not allowed to venture—and between campus and the surrounding community. These precautions include, among others, frequent COVID testing, enhanced cleaning procedures, tents to allow classes and gatherings to be held outdoors, and a prohibition on visitors to dorms. There are also contingency plans to switch to an all-remote learning model, and even to evacuate campus if necessary.
The article notes the relative success of the College’s pandemic plan so far, but a commentator points out that Amherst is at an advantage in being a small school with a spacious campus, in contrast to larger universities such as Northwestern and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.