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Quarantined Students Take to TikTok, Stock Up on Noodles

This photo taken on Nov. 21, 2019, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app Tiktok displayed on a tablet screen in Paris.
This photo taken on Nov. 21, 2019, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app Tiktok displayed on a tablet screen in Paris.

Canned goods.

Video games.

Recreational substances.

In case they are restricted from classes or campus due to the coronavirus, many students have been preparing to be quarantined for a couple weeks.“

I’m stockpiling on ramen,” says Mason Sell, a grad student at George Washington University.

When he found out that at few cases of coronavirus had broken out in Washington, D.C., Sell decided to stockpile on food and cleaning supplies to get him through both a coronavirus outbreak and midterms, which happen to coincide.

“I decided to drive far away from D.C. to get supplies," he said, after seeing people on social media complaining about empty shelves and lines out the doors at some stores.

He drove more than an hour to find a grocery store that was well-stocked.

Armed with laptops, tablets, game consoles and smartphones, millennials and Gen Zers living in quarantine, while physically isolated, continue to be engaged with the outside world.

Students in quarantine are keeping up with their assignments online and continuing their internships remotely. Others, have passed the time watching Netflix, shopping on Amazon, and scrolling through social media.

Leighton Douglas is a third-year architecture student at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. She is now one of the 106 students from her school who have been sent home from their study-abroad programs in Italy to spend two weeks in self-quarantine.

Her study abroad program in Rome ended abruptly after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) gave the country a Level 3 Travel Health Notice, indicating that transmission of coronavirus there is ongoing and widespread.

Within 12 hours of the CDC issuing a travel notice, the University of Notre Dame bought a flight home for all of their students in Rome, including Douglas.

While she was still in Rome, Douglas said travelers arriving at city's airport were having their temperatures taken.

However, her experience flying into the United States was quite different.

FILE - The logo of the TikTok application seen on a mobile phone, Feb. 21, 2019.
FILE - The logo of the TikTok application seen on a mobile phone, Feb. 21, 2019.

“We were expecting to have a health screening when we got back, but that just didn't happen," Douglas said. She found that surprising, especially because she noticed “there were definitely people coughing and sneezing on my flight and no one followed up with them.”

Along with her classmates, Douglas has to spend 14 days in self-quarantine and will need to be cleared by a doctor before she is allowed to return to campus. She has spent her time in quarantine in isolation in her room in her parents' home, mostly watching Netflix, building puzzles and patiently waiting for the two weeks to pass.

“Quarantine is a lot of sitting and waiting,” she said.

As the number of quarantined students increases on campuses across the country, some students, particularly those with a higher likelihood of infection compared to others in their age group, would rather be safe than sorry.

Anthea Johnson is a student at the California State University-Long Beach, where 10 students are self-quarantined over fears of COVID-19.

Johnson has circulated a petition asking her school to temporarily change their policies to allow students and faculty members to stay at home without a doctor's note and face no academic consequences.

“Students and faculty who identify as immune-suppressed, or have a household member who is, should be allowed to file for either temporary leave or excused absences for a period of time until the spread calms down,” Johnson wrote on her petition.

In two days, more than 2,500 students signed her petition.

Many in quarantine, especially students in the midst of midterm season, have little to do, so they have found creative ways to pass the time, leading to COVID-19 to go viral on thousands of memes, tweets and TikToks, documenting the virus' spread.

Student Mackenzie Britt has used TikTok -- a popular video app -- to pass the time and document her quarantine.

Britt, student at Loyola University in Baltimore, is studying abroad at the American University of Paris.

After her roommates returned from a trip to Northern Italy, they were placed in quarantine. Because she was in close quarters with her roommates, she joined them.

This led to Britt making a video documenting each day of her quarantine so far. Her TikTok shows her and her roommates checking their temperatures, getting groceries in facemasks, but mostly, just it shows them sitting around.

“I look forward to putting things on TikTok as I don't have much else to do.” Britt said.

Her videos have gone viral online, with her first racking up more than 50,000 likes. Some of her other videos were featured on the widely watched "Good Morning America" television show.

Swiss business student Gaia Pennissi entered quarantine after attending Fashion Week in Milan, which has been hard-hit by COVID-19. Upon returning to Switzerland, she has not been able to attend classes and has placed herself in quarantine.

“I am the type of person who likes to be out and about with other people,” she said. She spends time Facetiming with friends and family. She, too, has used TikTok to document her experience in quarantine, which she has described as more boring than it is hectic.

Madeline Joung contributed to this story.

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Harvard recommends gap year as a strategic move 

FILE - In this July 16, 2019, file photo people walk past an entrance to Widener Library, behind, on the campus of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass.
FILE - In this July 16, 2019, file photo people walk past an entrance to Widener Library, behind, on the campus of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass.

While some students and parents see the gap year as a waste of time, others see the break in academic studies as valuable for developing maturity, earning money or focusing goals.

MSN.com explains some of the reasons why Harvard – and other prestigious schools in the United States – are recommending that students take a gap year. (December 2024)

Student dilemma: Financial aid applications can expose undocumented parents

FILE - New graduates line up before the start of the Bergen Community College commencement at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J, May 17, 2018.
FILE - New graduates line up before the start of the Bergen Community College commencement at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J, May 17, 2018.

Many students in the U.S. rely on financial aid to attend colleges and universities, but as Julia Barajas reports in LAist.com, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid could cause a dilemma for students with an undocumented parent.

If students fill out the application, they will share their parents’ financial information – and potentially raise questions about their immigration status -- with the federal government. If they don’t fill out the application, they won’t get federal financial aid. (December 2024)

FDA: College students using ‘honey packets’ to enhance sex put themselves at risk 

FILE - Signage is seen outside of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, August 29, 2020.
FILE - Signage is seen outside of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, August 29, 2020.

With TikTok videos promoting “honey packets,” the supplements marketed as sexual enhancements have become popular on college campuses.

But as Charles Trepany reports in USA Today, the Food and Drug Administration has warned that ingredients in the supplements could be potentially dangerous. (November 2024)

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FILE - Visitors pose for a selfie at the Beijing Daxing International Airport near Beijing on Dec. 11, 2019.
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Some colleges and universities are encouraging international students to return to the United States – or stay in the country over winter break – to make sure any White House travel restrictions don’t impede their return, the South China Morning Post reports.

Chinese students in the United States have expressed concerns about being allowed back in the country after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20. Trump has promised sweeping immigration reforms and mass deportations. (December 2024)

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FILE - Sign at the Rutgers University campus in Newark, NJ, April 8, 2013.
FILE - Sign at the Rutgers University campus in Newark, NJ, April 8, 2013.

An undercover narcotics investigation at Rutgers University in New Jersey led to the arrest of seven people, NBC News reported.

Investigators say they found large amounts of marijuana, LSD, cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms, Adderall and Xanax. The drugs were offered on a menu circulated on a private social network of individuals affiliated with school, authorities said. (December 2024)

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