Oct. 13 report on confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the campus community

The College has learned that an additional off-campus student has tested positive for COVID-19.

The Student Health Service will monitor this student’s health, and they will remain in isolation until cleared by Student Health Service (generally 14 days post-exposure or 10 days from onset of symptoms, per CDC guidelines).

Although this student lives off campus, they are classified as an “active case” because they are enrolled in an in-person class.

The student was tested at an off-campus facility, meaning their test result will NOT be counted toward the “Positive Rate from On-Campus Testing” on the College’s COVID-19 dashboard.

A total of 17 students have tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the fall 2020 semester. One is classified as an active case (defined as confirmed positive tests among individuals who have been on campus and may have exposed others). No students are currently in quarantine or isolation on campus.

According to the College’s Testing and Quarantine procedure for fall 2020, contact tracers are immediately deployed to interview any students who test positive about where they have been and with whom they have been in contact. Contact tracers will notify other individuals as appropriate, and will also notify Facilities Management if COVID-19-positive students have been in common spaces on campus within the last seven days.

All faculty teaching courses in which students who test positive for COVID-19 are enrolled will be notified, whether those courses are in-person, remote or hybrid.

Students and instructors who share in-person courses (if any) with those who test positive will be notified but will not be required to quarantine unless contact tracers confirm that they have been in close contact (10 minutes or more within six feet) without wearing a mask.

This is in accordance with current SUNY, state and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance that quarantine is necessary only in cases when a person has been without a mask and has spent more than 10 minutes within six feet of an infected person.

State and local health departments have been notified of this confirmed case, per state requirements.

Our community can stay up-to-date via our COVID-19 dashboard, which includes tallies of current active cases, total cases last week, total recoveries, data on on-campus student testing and positivity rates for those on-campus tests, and information about students quarantining and isolating on campus.

This dashboard does not include counts of positive cases among students taking online courses from home, or employees who are telecommuting and not coming to campus, as any such cases should not pose an on-campus health risk.

Use this link for more details about our coronavirus communication protocols for fall 2020.