Exeter Responds to Coronavirus

Concerns over 2019-nCoV, a coronavirus that the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a “global health emergency,” have struck the Exeter community. Though Medical Director Dr. Katy Lilly stressed that the “risk to the US public is currently low,” students and administrators have addressed both the virus’ medical and cultural impacts. Asian and Asian American students, in particular, have noted coronavirus-related incidents of racism and xenophobia.

Shortly after reports of international transmission, Lilly sent an all-school email addressing coronavirus concerns. “At this time, we are continuing programming as scheduled. Please be assured that we continue to consider our programming, visitors to campus and upcoming vacation travel as we monitor the situation,” her statement read.

Despite these assurances, Dean of Students Brooks Moriarty encouraged students to “review travel plans for the March break” to and from China in an all-school email. International students from China were also offered two non-Academy affiliated travel programs, one to Arizona and the other to Boston/New York City. 

“The circumstances surrounding this situation are changing daily. We are monitoring information carefully, but please know that some countries may impose travel restrictions which may make it difficult or impossible for travelers to return,” Moriarty wrote in an email to international student parents. 

Shortly thereafter, the Academy canceled a spring Global Initiatives trip to China, and participants in the Shenzhen term abroad and School Year Abroad Beijing programs in China were called back to the United States.

Travel program participants noted their disappointment at the trip cancellations. “I thought it was kind of premature, in that—in a month—the circumstances surrounding the coronavirus might be different,” upper Ursie Wise said. “However, we would have had to cancel it regardless because airlines are cancelling flights now. Still, we probably could have waited until airlines took action to cancel the trip.”

On Friday, Asian Voices (AV), a Pan-Asian affinity group for students on campus, hosted a discussion on coronavirus-related racism. “People who have family near Wuhan or in China talked about how they’ve been hearing students at school make jokes about coronavirus,” AV co-head Mia Kuromaru said. “We talked about incidents in classrooms where we felt that teachers didn’t guide the classroom environment respectfully and allowed students to make jokes about it, or made jokes themselves about coronavirus.” 

For many Asian students, “travel plans have changed and international students have had their plans affected,” AV co-head David Kim added.

Dean of Students Brooks Moriarty made an announcement after Friday’s assembly asking students to refrain from allowing fear of the coronavirus to influence their views on Asians and Asian-Americans in the Exeter community. 

Dean of Multicultural Affairs Sami Atif urged the community in an all-school email to remember that “health scares have led to discriminatory policies, scapegoating, xenophobia, and racism” and that “what you may perceive to be a joke, can easily come across as a racist barb.” 

However, many Asian students felt that the responses from the administration were delayed. “The reactions [from AV] were grateful, but there were students who were not satisfied that there was information [from the Health Center] about the virus sent out first, and then later on, an email that said, ‘That doesn’t allow you to be racist towards Asian people,’” Kuromaru explained. “For a lot of the students  [AV members] in that room, it seemed like a second-hand thought.”

Kim also explained that certain AV members felt that multiple emails about coronavirus unintentionally dramaticized the situation. “Some people at AV thought that… several emails felt excessive and unintentionally made the administration seem overly concerned about coronavirus.” However, Kim himself thought that the Dean Atif and Dean Moriarty’s responses were necessary. 

International events hosted by clubs were also interrupted due to coronavirus concerns. Exeter Math Club (EMC) cancelled the 2020 Exeter Math Club Competition (EMCC) on Friday, Jan. 24 due to a fear that competitors could potentially be carriers of coronavirus.

Members of the EMC work all year to write problem sets for the competition, comprised of 300 middle school students from across the globe who travel to campus for an intensive mathematics competition. Upon hearing about the coronavirus outbreak, tournament directors seniors Ben Wright and Sanath Vogindarajan and club adviser and Mathematics Instructor Zuming Feng sought the guidance of the administration about whether to continue the event.

Though the school approved the event in accordance to CDC (Center for Disease Control) and WHO guidelines, Feng, Wright and Vogindarajan opted to cancel. “The risk was simply too large to continue with the competition, especially due to the difficulty of finding symptoms, the two-week incubation period, its highly contagious nature, and the unavailability of a cure,” the two said in their statement. “We did not want to risk anyone's health.”

EMC chose to cancel the event entirely as they “did not want to discriminate against competitors/coaches/chaperones and therefore couldn't block a specific subset of groups from coming.”

Due to the competition’s proximity to MATHCOUNTS, another national competition, EMC decided against postponement. “One of the reasons Exeter hosts EMCC is to help competitors prepare for MATHCOUNTS, a very important competition series for middle school mathletes that starts in early [February]. Delaying the event would defeat this purpose.”

Student and parent concerns over the competition also contributed to EMC’s decision-making. Parents, in particular, wrote to administrators about their concerns.

Some students noted their disappointment with the cancellation. Upper Yunseo Choi, a member of EMC, understood the concern for campus health but was saddened that the event would not go forward. “When I was in eighth grade, [this competition] was a chance for me to get noticed by Mr. Feng,” Choi said. “I think it had a big impact on my acceptance here, so I’m kind of sad that there might be some kids that could’ve used this opportunity.”

In lieu of an on-campus tournament tournament, the head problem writers, tournament directors and Feng sent out tests with electronic submission forms. Coaches were told to administer the test problems to the teams that would have competed. “Now, EMCC graders are in the process of grading the electronic submissions,” EMC said.

 However, the “guts” round, a teamwork-based contest that is the highlight of many competitors' experience, required proctors to administer it. It will not be administered remotely. 

In spite of the educational opportunity lost, EMC stood by the cancellation. “Teams, as well as Exeter staff, lost an important opportunity to have a team bonding experience,” they said. “However, we believe we made the right decision, given the choices available to us.”

Peer schools have also had to balance participation in extracurricular activities with safety concerns. At a Model United Nations competition hosted at Yale (YMUN), an Andover student reported a Chinese competitor as a potential case of coronavirus. As a result, the final day of YMUN, including a culminating committee session and an awards ceremony, was cancelled. Due to safety concerns of coronavirus, The Andover Model United Nations team chose not to attend the Harvard Model United Nations competition last Thursday to this Sunday. 

However, New Haven mayor Justin Elicker announced on Jan. 31 that the individual reported tested negative. 

Kim reminded the Exeter community that many Exonians are proximate to the impacts of coronavirus. “I know that coronavirus seems very far from Exeter, but I want people to know that because it is such a diverse community, we need to be aware of the gravity of our words and jokes,” he said.