Public Health Advisory: New COVID-19 Clusters

Dear Students, Faculty, Staff and Families:

In the past 24 hours, we have confirmed 21 new cases of COVID-19 among Syracuse University students. The majority of these new cases appear to be linked to two unrelated off-campus gatherings held this past weekend. As the contact tracing and testing process continues, we do anticipate additional positive cases connected to these two events.

As we did in response to the COVID-19 spike on our campus earlier this month, we are taking aggressive action to prevent this situation from expanding beyond our ability to control. Specifically, we are working closely with the Onondaga County Health Department to quickly identify and isolate all those potentially impacted and at risk because of this disappointing series of events.

To that end, if you receive a call, email or text message from the Barnes Center, the University’s COVID-19 Program Management Office or the Onondaga County Health Department, please respond immediately. If you are contacted, it is likely because findings from the contact tracing process suggest you may have been exposed to the virus.

Further, if you were at the Orange Crate on the evening of Saturday, Oct. 24—or an off-campus, unrecognized fraternity party over the weekend—please shelter in place and do not attend class. Additionally, we ask that you immediately contact the COVID-19 Program Management Office at 315.443.6180 or SUcovid@syr.edu.

We will continue to update our community as we receive additional information related to this emerging cluster of positive COVID-19 cases within our campus community. We will be communicating further on additional action we will be taking this Halloween weekend to prevent further spread.

Sincerely,

J. Michael Haynie
Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation