<p>Pottruck reopened some of its facilities to all undergraduate students on Feb. 24 after piloting COVID-19 protocols that proved successful.</p>

Helen Rudoler

Sarika Rau

<p>One week after Pottruck Health and Fitness Center reopened, students are grateful and excited to have access to the facilities, even after experiencing some difficulties when reserving a time to work out.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Pottruck <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2021/02/pottruck-health-fitness-center-reopen-penn-covid-19" target="_blank">reopened</a> some of its facilities to all undergraduate students on Feb. 24 after <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2021/02/penn-quiet-period-end-pottruck-indoor-student-group-meetings" target="_blank">piloting</a> COVID-19 protocols that proved successful as well as the undergraduate <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/penn-covid-19-positivity-rate-lowest-spring-break" target="_blank">positivity rate</a> consistently decreasing. On Feb. 27, Pottruck announced it would reopen two additional workout facilities on the third and fourth floors, in addition to expanding its hours.<strong> </strong>Students are allowed to make up to three reservations per week in one specific exercise room to use for the duration of their 60-minute workout.</p>
<p>Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé said Pottruck expanded its hours after seeing strong student interest in using the facilities and experiencing consistent success of Penn's COVID-19 protocols. Many students have also reported feeling safe when they work out because of Penn's COVID-19 protocols.</p>
<p>“I never came within six feet of anyone,” Nursing junior Kaitlin Henry said, adding that neither she nor anyone she saw took off their mask at any time while she was in the facility.</p>
<p>Nursing first year Jadyn Ross had a similar experience to Henry.</p>
<p>“There were only 10 people in the room with me, and all of them were wearing masks. I felt very safe the entire time," Ross said.</p>
<p>Students are required to wear a mask for the duration of their workout and also must show a green PennOpen Pass prior to entering Pottruck. They must also adhere to policies outlined in the <a href="https://coronavirus.upenn.edu/content/student-campus-compact" target="_blank">Student Campus Compact</a>.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Each room is restricted to a specific number of students based on social distancing capacities ranging from 10 to 24, depending on the room. As a result, some students have reported they have struggled to make reservations due to high demand and low availability.</p>
<p>“It’s really hard to get a reservation because you have to plan it four days in advance, and then you have to get on the website right at 12:00 p.m. when the reservations open, and that can be kind of a pain,” Engineering first year Rowan Almonte said.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Almonte said he has noticed that reservations typically fill up within two hours of being released on the <a href="https://recreationwebportal.dria.upenn.edu/booking" target="_blank">Campus Recreation Member Portal</a> website.</p>
<p>Engineering first year Andrea Urdaneta echoed Almonte's sentiment, adding that she has been unable to get a time slot in the second floor weight room — the facility she was most excited to use when she heard Pottruck was reopening.</p>
<p>As a result of the high demand, Pottruck opened two more facilities — the third- and fourth-floor fitness centers — on March 1 which accommodate 10 more reservations per hour. Pottruck also expanded its hours, and is now open Monday to Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 1:00pm and 2:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Saturday: 9:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m., and Sunday 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.</p>
<p>Henry and Engineering junior Keshava Katti said they do not mind the limitations of the booking process because it reflects the careful approach Penn is taking to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while also reopening a major campus facility.</p>
<p>“I’ve just been waiting around for Pottruck to open up — it means the world to me,” Katti said. “[Working out] is part of a routine I built during my sophomore year, and when Pottruck came back, it was like a glimpse of the old routine, being able to at least capture a vestige of what life was like pre-COVID-19.”</p>
<p>Engineering first year Stefanie Pfahnl — who is on the club swim team — also said she has been enjoying the taste of normality that Pottruck's reopening had provided.</p>
<p>“I have been having a great time going to [Pottruck]. I’m really happy that it is open,” Pfahnl said.</p>
<p>Penn administrators have been working for months to reopen the faculty and previously hoped to open Pottruck in December, but were unable to after Philadelphia instituted a <a href="https://www.phila.gov/2020-11-16-philadelphia-announces-new-safer-at-home-restrictions-in-response-to-rising-covid-19-cases/" target="_blank">Safer at Home</a> restriction.</p>
<p>“It’s been very rewarding to see how appreciative students have been,” Dubé said. “We’re really, really pleased with the results we’ve seen.”</p>

Samantha Turner

<p>Students can book 60-minute time slots in Pottruck's two weight rooms, multi-purpose room, and two cardio rooms.&nbsp;</p>

Pottruck Mask Covid Spring 2021 3-3-21

Students pleased with Pottruck reopening, calling it a ‘glimpse of the old routine’

<p>About 70% of respondees said they believe their peers are not acting responsibly and over 71% said they know someone who has attended a gathering of over 10 people this semester.</p>

Jonah Charlton

The Daily Pennsylvanian Analytics Staff

<p>Undergraduate students<strong> </strong>are overwhelmingly satisfied with Penn's COVID-19 testing program but concerned with peer behavior and enforcement of the University's COVID-19 guidelines, according to a survey<strong> </strong>conducted by The Daily Pennsylvanian.</p>
<p>The survey ran from Feb. 21 to Feb. 28 and garnered responses from 422 students, 55% of whom are living in on-campus housing and 37% of whom are living off campus in Philadelphia. It found that 88% of students said COVID-19 testing centers are efficient at administering tests and 84% of students said COVID-19 test results are easily accessible. Despite their confidence in the testing program, students remain concerned with their peers breaking COVID-19 regulations. About 70% of respondees said they believe their peers are not acting responsibly and over 71% said they know someone who has attended a gathering of over 10 people this semester. Indoor gatherings in private residences are currently permitted with only one other household besides one's own, according to <a href="https://www.phila.gov/programs/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/guidance/guidance-documents/social-gathering-guidance/" target="_blank">city guidelines</a>.</p>
<p>The poll asked students to rate how strongly they agreed or disagreed with a number of statements pertaining to campus life, peer behavior, COVID-19 testing, enforcement of campus policies, and the effectiveness of PennOpen Pass.</p>
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<p>Students reported concerns over Penn's ability to discipline students who violate the <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2020/07/campus-compact-explained-penn-fall-social-distancing" target="_blank">Student Campus Compact</a>, which outlines COVID-19 guideline compliance expectations for students living on and off campus. The Campus Compact focuses on four categories — health and wellness, campus movement, travel and guests, and social life and recreation — asking students to agree to a number of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including avoiding unnecessary travel, maintaining social distancing, and only congregating outdoors, at a distance and while wearing masks.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Only 9% of students said they are confident in Penn's ability to discipline students who violate the Campus Compact.<strong> </strong>Over 58% of students believe the Campus Compact should have stricter regulations.&nbsp;</p>
<p>First year students have <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2021/01/penn-freshmen-partying-covid-19-pandemic-guidelines" target="_blank">reportedly</a> been partying in college houses and breaking COVID-19 guidelines since the beginning of the semester. Many resident advisors and graduate associates have previously <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2021/01/ragas-spring-semester-covid-resign" target="_blank">told the DP</a> that they feel unsafe enforcing the Student Campus Compact and breaking up student gatherings.</p>
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<p>Penn <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2021/02/penn-covid-campus-compact-violations" target="_blank">released a dashboard</a> detailing over 250 reports of students violating the University's COVID-19 protocols that have been submitted to the Campus Compact Review Panel. The dashboard<strong> </strong>was released on Feb. 19 and will be updated monthly, Chief Wellness Officer Benoit Dubé told the DP on Feb. 22.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Of reports that resulted in University intervention, 52% led to disciplinary sanctions, 33% led to educational interventions, and 14% led to campus restrictions.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The majority of students, however, still said they do not believe the consequences for noncompliance are clear enough.</p>
<p>In the freeform response section of the survey, many students said they wanted "greater transparency" from Penn regarding COVID-19 test results and that they would like to see the COVID-19 dashboard updated daily. Over 69% of students said the <a href="https://coronavirus.upenn.edu/content/dashboard" target="_blank">COVID-19 dashboard</a> is not updated frequently enough. Penn currently updates the dashboard weekly on Tuesday mornings.</p>
<p>In early February, the undergraduate COVID-19 positivity rate <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2021/02/penn-covid-19-cases-double-undergraduate" target="_blank">peaked</a> at 4.47% with 239 positive cases among undergraduates. Last week the University's weekly undergraduate COVID-19 <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2021/03/penn-covid-19-positivity-rate-lowest-spring-break" target="_blank">positivity rate declined to</a> 0.32% — the lowest weekly rate of the semester.&nbsp;</p>
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<p>Over 44% of students also said they do not know where to report Student Campus Compact violations.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Any member of the Penn community can report an alleged violation of the <a href="https://coronavirus.upenn.edu/content/student-campus-compact" target="_blank">Campus Compact</a> to the Campus Compact Review Panel via a form, which can be found on the <a href="https://upenn.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6R4DIR9Pm2ziKsl" target="_blank">University's COVID-19 Wellness page</a>. After the submission is received, the panel will determine whether it will address the violation directly, refer the violation to the Office of Student Conduct for disciplinary review, or dismiss it entirely.</p>
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<p>As for Penn's COVID-19 policies, students are overwhelmingly supportive of the University's testing protocols.</p>
<p>Penn requires undergraduate students living on and off campus to <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/penn-spring-covid-19-testing-explainer" target="_blank">schedule</a> saliva-based COVID-19 screening testing twice a week on pre-assigned days. Graduate students and faculty living on campus must schedule screening testing twice a week on days of their choice, and off-campus graduate students and faculty who visit campus must be tested once a week.</p>
<p>The University provides students' test results between <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2020/12/our-new-covid-19-screening-program-starts-dec-7" target="_blank">24 and 48 hours</a> after they test. Dubé and Chief Operating Officer for Wellness Services Erika Gross have told the DP throughout the spring semester that Penn's testing protocols and systems have "run smoothly and been very successful."</p>
<p>Dubé and Gross both emphasized that testing is only one part of public health guidelines, and said students must continue to wash their hands, socially distance, and wear a mask.</p>
<p>While students are supportive of testing protocols, many do not feel that PennOpen Pass is an effective tool in mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Nearly 62% of students said it is not effective and only 11% said it is.<strong> </strong><a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2021/01/penn-spring-covid-19-testing-explainer" target="_blank">PennOpen Pass</a> is a web-based daily symptom checker and exposure reporting system for members of the Penn community which determines whether an individual is allowed inside University buildings.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Some students wrote in the freeform response section of the poll that they felt PennOpen Pass was not effective because they knew of peers who had created fake Open Passes. Last week, Penn added a randomly generated, three-digit alphanumeric code that changes each day to all green passes to <a href="https://www.thedp.com/article/2021/03/penn-open-pass-policy-change-anti-fraud-covid" target="_blank">prevent </a>the use of fraudulent passes.</p>
<p>The survey was distributed through the DP's Facebook and Instagram accounts, the DP's daily newsletter, and on all four class Facebook pages and GroupMe group chats. The sample overrepresents first years, who constitute 42% of all respondents, and underrepresents seniors, who constitute 15% of all respondents. It also overrepresents students who identify as female, who constitute 72% of the sample but <a href="https://diversity.upenn.edu/diversity-at-penn/facts-and-figures" target="_blank">53%</a> of the student body.</p>
<p><em>The Daily Pennsylvanian Analytics Staff contributed reporting.</em></p>

Kylie Cooper

<p>A Daily Pennsylvanian poll of students found that over 88% of students said COVID-19 testing centers are efficient and over 84% of students said that COVID-19 tests results are easily accessible.&nbsp;</p>

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