People walk past the University of Toronto campus during the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto in June 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette November 6, 2023 How the pandemic permanently altered college towns Xiaodan Pan, Concordia University; Isaac Elking, University of Houston-Downtown, and John-Patrick Paraskevas, University of Tennessee The COVID-19 pandemic affected college towns profoundly and highlighted the complex relationship between universities and their host communities.