A recent increase of COVID-19 cases among SU students is changinghow the university responds. The cluster emerged after some students visited another college and then attended an off campus party. Vice Chancellor Mike Haynie says the university led an education campaign early on.
“Everybody should know and understand well, and have internalized the set of behaviors appropriate to be here and to be together during a global health crisis. We will enhance our focus on enforcement of public health guidelines in our off-campus neighborhoods.”
Haynie adds the university quickly put a wall around the cluster of the cases to stop the spread of the virus from reaching the rest of the campus community. Students who are caught by campus public safety officers throwing parties in the nearby neighborhood will be referred to a student judicial process. Haynie says not a single incident will be tolerated and feels the university has done a great job of trying to stop COVID from spreading.
“I think that many folks did not believe Syracuse University would be able to sustain the residential campus experience to this point in the academic semester. And truth, not only have we sustained a residential experience but we’ve been a national example.”
Haynie points out the cluster appears to be contained. All campus wastewater system tests continue to show no signs of COVID-19. Syracuse University reported 20 new cases Thursday for 65 active cases among students. A New York State mandate requires any higher education institution that has over 100 active cases in a two-week period must transition to online instruction for two weeks. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon says the rule is hard for big schools like Syracuse University.
“A problem at a school that size is: do you have 500 cases? Even though the rule is 100 over two weeks- is it more than what you want, yes- that’s not necessarily outbreak.”
McMahon adds that the current two-week period ends this Friday, and then the number resets. SU would need 35 new COVID-19 cases by then before it was required to shut down. More than four-thousand students have been tested at the stadium in the past few days. All faculty, staff, and students are offered free tests with an SUID. Just enter through Gate N.
