It Looked Like the Apocalypse: Drone Video Captured How COVID Emptied BU Campuses

Footage of pandemic’s early days, shot in April 2020, recorded an eerily quiet campus

Aerial shot of Marsh Plaza and Comm Ave. Drone footage vividly capturing how BU has been transformed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Video shot by Above Summit, edited by Chris Palmer, BU Productions
Campus Life

It Looked Like the Apocalypse: Drone Video Captured How COVID Emptied BU Campuses

Footage of pandemic’s early days, shot in April 2020, recorded an eerily quiet campus

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It Looked Like the Apocalypse: Drone Video Captured How COVID Emptied BU Campuses

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Campus Life

It Looked Like the Apocalypse: Drone Video Captured How COVID Emptied BU Campuses

March 12, 2025
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Five years ago this week, the COVID-19 pandemic transformed Boston University overnight from a bustling hub to a ghost town. Students returning from spring break were abruptly sent home for the rest of the semester as classes switched to Zoom. Nonessential employees were instructed to work from home until further notice. And a normally bustling Charles River Campus became an eerily silent landscape. This drone video, recorded on April 23, 2020, offers a fascinating record of what BU looked like at the start of the pandemic. 

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  • Above Summit

    Above Summit is a Boston-based drone and video production company. Profile

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Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.

There are 7 comments on It Looked Like the Apocalypse: Drone Video Captured How COVID Emptied BU Campuses

  1. The headline says Eerie. The dictionary says that eerie suggests an uneasy or fearful consciousness that mysterious and malign powers are at work.Lets have more positive BU Today experiences instead of ones that infer that mysterious or malevolent powers are at work. Our human presence is still going strong through online courses, meetings, support groups, academic advising, training videos, athletic workouts, and being the great BU community that we are. BU is far from dead. BU is going strong every day. Love you guys!

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    1. Thanks BU Strong for the comment. I understand your point, and we certainly did not mean to imply some mysterious powers at work! Simply that the sight of an empty BU campus on a beautiful spring day is a strange and even eerie sight. Absolutely the human presence is strong and alive and we cannot wait to be back stronger than ever. Doug Most/Exec. Editor

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  2. That was fabulous I enjoyed watching it twice. I was able to point out the buildings to a new employee. Would like to see it again when everyone returns.

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  4. Stunning footage. It really underlines the beauty of the campus, and how the people in the BU community give the university life. Here’s to a crowded Comm Ave in the (hopefully) near future!

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  5. To really show all of BU there should have been footage showing the medical campus. BU faculty cared for hundreds of COVID-19 patients and it would have been especially fitting to include their campus during these difficult times.

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  6. Longtime BU staffer here. I enjoy these videos but none of them look “eerie” or “haunting”. Speaking as someone who occasionally works in COM weekends and holidays, this is BU always looks when classes aren’t in session! If the weather in the photos wasn’t nice, I’d think the footage was shot during intersession.

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