2020 Coronavirus Outbreak

Two years of COVID-19: A look back on UNC student experiences

Two years of COVID-19: A look back on UNC student experiences

Two years of COVID-19: A look back on UNC student experiences

Two years of COVID-19: A look back on UNC student experiences

Since March 2020, UNC students have experienced a mixture of virtual and in-person learning, as the University has adjusted to providing a college experience during the era of COVID-19. From the class of 2021 to 2025, The Daily Tar Heel spoke to UNC students who reflected on their experiences throughout the last two years of the pandemic in this eight-part look back series.

Word on the street: students adjust to spring semester classes

As the spring semester begins, students are navigating the return to both in-person and virtual classes. 

Column: Translating UNC's COVID-19 communications

"I wish I could decipher even more from these emails, but after six hours of nonstop reading, I have a headache like a 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Unless ... I hope it’s not … I’d better get tested. Has anyone read the emails well enough to know where I can do that?"

Editorial: How to get at-home COVID-19 test kits

"Although these options to obtain a free COVID-19 test are steps forward, they aren’t steps that are large enough. With the rise in omicron cases, it’s imperative that these tests and resources are available to everyone, regardless of geographic, socioeconomic and financial status."

Column: UNC's inconsistency in COVID-19 testing helps no one

"The decision to move to appointment-only asymptomatic testing is emblematic of how UNC students, faculty and staff have to handle this pandemic: We are left to figure things out on our own."

Editorial: What mask should you be wearing?

"Masking has been proven to be a critical public health tool for preventing the spread of COVID-19. And to protect yourself, others and the community, it’s important to wear the most protective mask that you can wear consistently."

Kody Kinsley assumes role as NCDHHS secretary, replacing Cohen

Kody Kinsley's priorities include leading the state's pandemic response amid a surge of the omicron variant and responding to the state's ongoing opioid crisis.

Column: Disabled people are experts on our own health

"Now, I’m assumed to add so little to my classes that it is perfectly acceptable when I’m not really a part of them. I see campus opening back up and administrators sticking their heads in the sand, and the only decision being delegated to me is whether or not I risk my life to attend my classes. That’s a difficult decision to make."

Editorial: Pandemic highlights rural healthcare disparity

"The coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated health care barriers for rural communities, including health care provider shortages, insufficient internet availability, geographic location and other issues."

Column: UNC continues to research omicron as variant spreads

"With research on omicron developing from here on out, new recommendations and policies are likely to emerge to protect the general public from the variant. For the next several weeks, it’s imperative that institutions and individuals take all the measures that they can to prevent the surge from affecting our local communities."

Editorial: UNC's COVID-19 policies fall behind other elite institutions

"Should UNC have taken a similar approach to what the likes of Duke and Yale have done and postpone the start of the semester? Or even completely move instruction online for the first few weeks?"

Column: UNC's spring plans delay the inevitable for graduate instructors

"Remote learning isn’t fun for students or instructors, and the prospect of returning to Zoom is daunting. But I carry the burden of doing what I can to slow the spread and eliminate at least one site of potential exposure. This is a burden the University has allotted to myself and other graduate instructors and faculty."

Editorial: UNC's lack of leadership isn't new, but it's still unacceptable

"We’ve seen it before — the lack of leadership to condemn racism and discrimination on campus, the lack of leadership to offer attendance flexibility during a global pandemic and the lack of leadership to mandate a COVID-19 vaccine."

Editorial: Relaxing COVID-19 policies is dangerous – UNC does it anyway

"UNC administration cannot be the master of both worlds, although it may try, because there is only one right course of action – the one that protects students, faculty and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro communities we reside within. Anything else is negligent."

Column: The "Carolina Experience" comes at a cost

"I’m dying to see a UNC-Duke basketball game in the Dean Dome, graduate next to my friends at convocation and sign my name atop the bell tower. But if the “Carolina Experience” comes at the cost of the health of the community — I don’t want it."

Op-ed: UNC isn't ready for the omicron variant

"When we do eventually return to the comforts of a residential experience, we must do so not because of loyalty to the past but rather because of a commitment to addressing the discomforts of our present."

Faculty Executive Committee discusses spring return-to-campus concerns at UNC

The University has no plans to delay the spring semester as of now, Provost Bob Blouin said at a UNC Faculty Executive Committee special meeting Thursday. Any changes to spring semester operations will be announced by Jan. 3, he said. The FEC also discussed concerns about the return to campus amid the rapidly spreading omicron COVID-19 variant, masking protocols and the potential for a vaccine mandate.