Balancing public safety and student mental health with omicron

It's happening again: a growing number of universities are moving finals online and sending students home after COVID outbreaks on campus.

We're heading into a holiday break, and it's unclear what will happen in the new year, especially with the new, extremely transmissible omicron COVID variant taking hold.

We know something now, however, that we didn't the first time colleges went remote: the mental health tradeoffs that come with keeping students' bodies safe from COVID. And that is compounded by shortages of mental health services, workers and coverage.

So, should colleges and universities think about the trade-off between COVID health and mental health differently this time around?

First, we hear from Farrin Khan, a senior and the outgoing speaker of the student senate at UMass Boston. Then, we take your calls with Dr. Carrie Landa, the incoming executive director of Student Wellbeing and member of the COVID task force, both at Boston University, and Dr. Caitlin Nevins, the director of Psychological Services in the College Mental Health Program at McLean Hospital.