May 12 report on confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the campus community

May 11, 2020 Andrew Bruso

An employee notified the College on Monday, May 11, that she has received positive results for antibodies suggesting prior exposure to COVID-19. It is unknown when the employee was infected, though she reported experiencing symptoms in late March.

The employee is a female who works in the Department of Residence Life. She reported that she has been in isolation in her on-campus residence, located in an otherwise unoccupied residence hall, since feeling ill in March, and that she voluntarily self-quarantined for a period of more than 14 days while she was experiencing symptoms. She did not come into contact with any secondary exposures during that time, and is no longer symptomatic.

Because it has been more than seven days since this individual was symptomatic, we do not need to deploy any focused cleaning of buildings she occupied, per current CDC guidance.

As of this writing, we can confirm that 11 employees and 20 students have tested positive for COVID-19 or indicated antibodies. All have been quarantined at home or in the hospital. Some are already feeling better.

The College is now sharing information about students, faculty and staff who test positive for COVID-19 in the morning Daily Digest newsletter. These updates will be published whether or not there are new confirmed cases to report, and will continue Monday-Friday until further notice.

Members of the campus community may hear unconfirmed reports of individuals who are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 but have not tested positive. The College will continue to report only confirmed, positive-test cases to the campus community.

We remind members of our community that the CDC has advised that there is “No Identifiable Risk” to an individual who walks or briefly shares a room with a COVID-19-positive individual. That guidance can be found in Table 1 of the CDC’s interim guidance for risk assessment related to perceived levels of exposure.

We continue to recommend that members of our community who are experiencing flu-like symptoms practice good public health protocols by resting, drinking lots of fluids, reducing contact with others, restricting their movement, and contacting the Student Health Center or their primary care physician.

Campus leadership is continuing to monitor developments related to COVID-19 with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and our local and state health departments, as well as SUNY System Administration and the Governor’s Office.

Please continue to monitor campus e-mail for updates. Campus community members can view updates at the Coronavirus Information and Coronavirus FAQs webpages, which are being updated regularly as this situation evolves.