Dear Students, Faculty, Staff and Families:
A short time ago, epidemiologists leading our wastewater surveillance program detected the presence of COVID-19 in the Ernie Davis Hall sewer. This is not a surprising development as epidemiologists fully expected to detect the presence of the virus by this method during this semester. The wastewater surveillance program is part of the University’s comprehensive effort to expeditiously mobilize our response protocol allowing us to quickly detect, contain and mitigate COVID-19 among our community.
While this detection does not definitively mean an individual in Ernie Davis Hall currently has COVID-19, out of an abundance of caution, we will be closing the building and temporarily quarantining all residents. The building has two sewers—one for the residence hall and the other for the dining hall. At this time, the presence of COVID-19 was only detected in the residence hall.
In addition to temporarily quarantining all residents, the University has begun testing all students and employees who live and work in the building, respectively. Testing will continue throughout the evening until all residents have been tested. We are communicating directly with the residents and employees about testing and quarantining logistics, including academic continuity, food services, access to health services, etc.
We recognize, given the news of outbreaks at other universities, this announcement is concerning. However, we are confident in the efficacy of our monitoring, tracing and isolation strategies. We are working quickly to implement our response protocol to ensure any trace of COVID-19 is quickly contained to limit potential spread.
We will continue to update our community on these efforts. And please know, if any individual in the building does test positive, the contact tracing process will commence immediately.
Sincerely,
J. Michael Haynie
Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation
The Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) at Syracuse University Libraries is now accepting proposals for two Faculty Fellows who would like to provide students with an opportunity to handle, analyze and interpret SCRC’s primary source materials in their classes. Proposal…
Dear Students, Families, Faculty and Staff: A short time ago, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended a temporary pause in the administration of the Johnson & Johnson single dose…
Conversations about faith and religion are often avoided. In the midst of polarized times such topics can be especially daunting. However, as shared by Rev. Brian E. Konkol, dean of Hendricks Chapel, a key to understanding others lies in having…
Dear Students, Faculty and Staff: Have you signed up to get an on-campus vaccination yet? If not, but you plan to be vaccinated, we urge you to take action today. The Barnes Center at The Arch now has appointments available…
Dear North Campus Residents: As a reminder, we continue to conduct twice-weekly testing for all on-campus students living in North Campus residence halls. We are writing to share this week’s testing schedule. All testing takes place at the Stadium Testing…
If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.
