At Rutgers, with fears of arrest and COVID-19 hundreds of students party -- quietly
NEW BRUNSWICK — It was only 10:30 at night, but Miranda Jones was already late for the party. She arrived at the white townhouse on Mine Street, then checked the address on her phone. From the back patio, she heard dozens of people shouting over pop music. She heard someone open a beer can, its metallic click-shushhh softened by the night’s wet air.
Beside the townhouse stood a wooden gate leading to the patio. Jones placed her hands on the gate. She peered through the slats and listened to the party. So many people. Nobody wearing masks. After a few minutes, she turned and walked away.
“We were under the impression it was just going to be a small party,” said Jones, 21, a senior at Rutgers University. “But now we’re here, and the music is really loud. There's a lot of people. That’s not safe. I live with my parents. I can’t get them sick.”
At universities across the country, Saturday night is party night. And in a normal year this Saturday — the first of the academic year, with students returning to the Rutgers campus from all over the world — would be a blowout. Anticipation for this weekend ran even higher this summer, after five months of quarantine from COVID-19 forced New Jersey residents of all ages to see their friends only in the hiccup-y videos of Facetime and Zoom.
Read more: https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/columnists/christopher-maag/2020/08/31/covid-nj-rutgers-students-party-as-semester-begins/3419184001/
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