Am I the only student following the Covid rules?

Returning to university last week, my experience has been anything but fun. Despite living in one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, in a room overlooking the picturesque Christ Church Meadow, I can’t help but feel a horrifying sense of entrapment. Rigorous Covid-19 measures in place throughout the university, and no face-to-face tuition, means my narrow room is to become my world for the next few months. Yet the most isolating aspect of life here is not Oxford’s Covid regulations, but my peers’ approach to the pandemic. 

Despite their compliance to the guidelines earlier this year, the vast majority of students no longer seem to care. Each night, I witness huge swathes tumbling out of pubs, restaurants and bars, carelessly brushing shoulders with myself and others on the street. Just this week, a party at my college attended by 40 students was shut down. 

You need only take a glance at the news to understand the implications of such behaviour; positive cases have so far been detected at 52 UK universities, prompting the forced self-isolation of over 3000 students.