In an effort to further prevent the spread of COVID-19, MU introduced the #CampusClear app to its Show Me Renewal plan prior to the start of the Fall 2020 semester.
#CampusClear is “a self-screening mobile application designed to support campus community members as they monitor their day-to-day health and respond to potential COVID-19 symptoms,” according to MU’s Show Me Renewal website.
The app asks students to log in with their MU email address but “does not collect data such as names, personal identification numbers, addresses or telephone numbers,” according to the Show Me Renewal website. “Only aggregate data will be provided to authorized university administrators to provide real-time insights into overall health trends.”
Students who use the app are asked to record their possible COVID-19 symptoms, if any, as well as if they or someone they have been in contact with tested positive. Once students complete their self-assessment, the app notifies them of whether or not they are clear to access MU’s campus and guides them to resources for support if they are not.
While the app is mandatory for all students to download and use, MU is not currently enforcing the requirement. The app may be used to allow individuals access to certain locations on campus in the future, according to the Show Me Renewal website, but those locations have not been specified, and MU has not released a date for when they expect the app to be used for this purpose.
For some students, like MU sophomore Caroline Stites, MU’s use of the #CampusClear app feels like a futile attempt to combat COVID-19.
“Personally, I don’t think that the #CampusClear app is helpful because, for one, I didn’t know it existed until recently,” Stites said. “So, no, I do not think it is helpful. It almost feels like a cop out to make the school feel like they’re doing something.”
MU sophomore Adam Rosen uses the app every day and notes that it helps him be responsible. However, he knows that is not the case for many others.
“I feel like most students probably don’t actually care about it or don’t use it at all. I think it’s impossible to force students to use it,” Rosen said in an email. “I think the app is just another way for the school to act like they care when they’re really just continuing to avoid the actual problem in that they have completely failed in its return to campus. They have no clue what they’re doing. They are continuing to work on the fly.”
_Edited by Lucy Caile|lcaile@themaneater.com_