‘Felt like the room was closing in:’ MU students push on after coronavirus scare
It’s one of those moments University of Missouri senior Kaleigh Feldkamp will remember for the rest of her life.
Feldkamp and about two dozen MU students and faculty members had just returned from a weekend in New Orleans for the National Institute for Computer Assisted Reporting (NICAR) conference.
Two days after returning to Columbia, the email popped up from conference sponsors on March 10: An attendee at the convention tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus.
“It felt like the room was closing in,” Feldkamp said. “I was like, ‘Oh my god, I don’t even know what to do now.’”
The next few moments were a blur for Feldkamp, an assistant news editor for the Columbia Missourian.
Feldkamp said she was in the newsroom when she received the email. While her co-workers rushed to write the breaking news story, she needed to take her next steps of action. After a “mini panic,” everyone who attended the conference was sent home to self-quarantine.
Once Rachel Zalucki, another attendee and MU senior, heard the news, she said she found it ironic. At the conference, she went to a panel on tips and tricks for covering COVID-19, explaining how she was excited to bring that information back to Columbia.
“Then we got back,” Zalucki said. “It turns out we were the ‘cases.’”
As the NICAR attendees returned, the university took action. MU’s initial plan was to restart classes after spring break on March 30. But the UM System suspended all in-person classes for the rest of the semester, with all courses set to be taught remotely.
For a Columbia community yet to feel the impact of coronavirus, the NICAR attendees were one of the first real connections to the now-classified pandemic.
“It was hard not to feel like it was my fault or our fault,” Feldkamp said. “Like, we had caused this shutdown. So that was weird.”
Testing and quarantine
Once the attendees were sent home, they were contacted by school officials, Zalucki said.
A professor told them MU Health would call them for screening tests and to set up a Q&A with doctors. Some of the attendees were tested on March 12, two days after initially hearing from NICAR.
They would get their results back in a few days. As of now, none of the traveling contingent who went to New Orleans has tested positive for coronavirus, Zalucki said.
Zalucki said the few days of waiting for the test results while quarantined were the most challenging. While Feldkamp and other attendees returned home and to roommates, Zalucki was in a difficult situation because she’s a resident adviser.
Instead of returning to the dorms, where she could potentially infect dozens, the university moved her to a residence hall the hospital uses. Once there, Zalucki was isolated on her own floor.
“I just remember crying about it before I got moved,” Zalucki said. “My parents were a mess. Basically just had to sit there until I got my test results back.”
To pass the time, Zalucki said she relied on her Netflix subscription. Out of boredom, she also started a daily blog on Instagram.
Whenever she needed food, toiletries or maintenance, she was given phone numbers to call. The meal options were plentiful because they were taken from the dining halls, which was a small bonus. Though as a precaution, the food was delivered to the end of the hallway, meaning there was no human contact.
Although Zalucki was only quarantined for a few days, she said the isolation took a toll on her mental health.
“I really missed people while I was there,” Zalucki said. “It also was kind of disheartening for people to kind of not want to be anywhere near me even though I didn’t have any symptoms. I completely understand why. … At the same time, it was so, so lonely in quarantine. It sucked.”
Finishing the semester
With the test results negative, Feldkamp, Zalucki and the other attendees were able to break their quarantine. They still are practicing social distancing, though doing so on their own terms.
Feldkamp said she plans to stay in Columbia for the foreseeable future, clinging to some semblance of normalcy in her final months of senior year.
Zalucki flew to Oahu, Hawaii, where her parents live. She said it was partly because her family wanted her back home after the initial scare and that Hawaii didn’t have as many coronavirus cases compared to Missouri.
As they wrap up the semester, they’ll do so remotely.
“As a senior, it’s hit me especially hard,” Feldkamp said. “I still haven’t really come to terms of it. My friends and I all made the decision to stay and have a semi-normal last few months as much as you can when every business in Columbia is closed.”