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FEATURE Wednesday 30 september 2020

Dutch students work hard to keep virus out of shared houses

By MIKE CORDER online through the web-
Associated Press site, so … everything I do
LEIDEN, Netherlands (AP) is basically here," he said.
— This is not the student "I do study with friends
life Iris Raats had hoped for sometimes, but that's also
when she was accepted at through the laptop."
Leiden University to study Not all students in Leiden
law. have been able to resist
With the coronavirus pan- the temptation to party.
demic casting its long Police intervened earlier
shadow over education this month to halt one late-
in the Netherlands and night gathering of students
around the world, most of in a Leiden park where
her lectures are online and people failed to social dis-
the vibrant social life in the tance.
country's oldest university "It doesn't always go well,"
city has been reined in to Van Engelhoven said. "That
contain the spread of the was — and they've said this
pandemic. themselves — stupid and
Instead, socializing hap- irresponsible and we have
pens predominantly within to make sure we prevent
the four walls of the house that."
that the 19-year-old shares For the students, the one
with 13 other students close Dutch students chat in the kitchen of their shared house in Leiden, Netherlands on Friday, Sept. upside of the restrictions is
to the city's central railway 25, 2020. more time to focus on their
station. Associated Press education.
"I'm very glad that I found concede it's hard to rigidly cases and other factors. third floor. His days are "You can't get out to ... par-
... a room in Leiden and enforce that rule. At the Student housing is not just spent peering at his lap- ty," said Velthuijs. "Normally
that I can experience liv- height of the outbreak ear- a problem in the Nether- top on the table next to we used to party quite a
ing with students and have lier this year, residents were lands. his bed, although he must bit together in the town
parties here in the kitchen," allowed just one guest, a In Britain, outbreaks at uni- sometimes go to a univer- but that's all stopped, so it's
she said. "But it's not like real rule that allowed partners versities in cities including sity lab to carry out experi- kind of boring. But you can
student life." to visit. Glasgow, Edinburgh and ments. concentrate on your stud-
Houses packed with stu- When a room is vacated, Manchester have seen "Most of our colleges are ies now, so that's okay."q
dents in Dutch university meetings between house- thousands of students con-
cities are seen as a worry- mates and potential new fined to their residence
ing source of infections as residents — thought to be a halls. Security guards at
the Netherlands has been source of spreading infec- some schools prevent
hit by a strong resurgence tions — now happen large- young people from leaving
of coronavirus in recent ly online or in the house's their buildings.
weeks. Infections have back garden. The clampdown has an-
soared among people So far, it's worked for Iris and gered students and par-
aged 20-30. her housemates. Nobody ents, who say government
"It's very complicated for has tested positive for CO- and universities should
students if there are 14 of VID-19, even as Dutch in- have been better pre-
you living in a house with fections are spiking and the pared, with clearer social
shared kitchen, shared government is introducing distancing rules and routine
bathroom," Dutch Educa- tougher measures to rein in virus testing for students.
tion Minister Ingrid van En- its spread. Confining students to dorms
gelshoven told The Associ- Students squeeze in and also has not stopped them
ated Press. out of the cramped kitch- from socializing. Police
"What we see now is that en and sit talking around a were called to a residence
students are working with small table cluttered with at Edinburgh University last
one another to work out newspapers, books, cups week to break up multiple
how to make those houses and glasses. Iris cooks eggs student parties.
safe." and fiscal law student Ge- In the United States, doz-
That is happening at the rard Velthuijs makes coffee. ens of universities have
house in Leiden, where In a hall, at the bottom of emerged as virus hot spots.
students are packed into a steep flight of stairs, beer Although students are be-
communal spaces almost crates are stacked up and ing spaced apart in class-
as tightly as their bicycles empty bottles collected in rooms and dining halls,
in racks in the front yard. boxes. A single face mask the virus has continued to
The residents have made hangs out of a student's spread in cramped dorms
up their own rules to keep mail collection rack on the and through off-campus
the virus out, largely seal- wall. parties that have been
ing themselves off from the So far, about 100,000 peo- blamed for thousands of
outside world by strictly lim- ple have tested positive cases.
iting the number of visitors. for COVID-19 in the Neth- In Leiden, second-year
Students with a cough or erlands and around 6,300 physics student David Hint-
runny nose are supposed have died, although the zen is spending way more Bicycles are parked in stands outside two student shared houses
to self-isolate in their rooms, true toll is higher because time than he would like in in Leiden, Netherlands, on Friday, Sept. 25, 2020.
although the housemates of limited testing, missed his bedroom on the house's Associated Press