Dear Students, Faculty, Staff and Families:
With less than four weeks to go in the spring semester, our campus is beginning to experience an uptick in COVID cases, a trend that is consistent with what is occurring across the country and here in Onondaga County. As we approach the end of year activities, including final projects and exams, and Commencement exercises, it is important that we take reasonable action to minimize the impact of COVID infections on academic outcomes and experiences. That’s why, effective Tuesday, April 19, our campus will transition to COVID level “Blue.”
What does this action mean for you?
Masking level Blue indicates an elevated level of transmission risk on campus and stipulates the following guidelines on campus:
Why was this decision made?
Late last week the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanded its recommendation for indoor masking from Onondaga and Oswego counties, to include an additional eight counties across Central New York. This elevated masking recommendation stems from an increasing number of new COVID cases across the region, likely resulting from subvariants of the omicron strain of the COVID virus. These subvariants were first identified in Onondaga County several weeks ago. There is no current evidence that these subvariants cause heightened levels of illness among vaccinated individuals. However, these subvariants do appear to be more contagious. This is likely why we have experienced an increase in new cases and test positivity on campus over the past 10 days. Given the high vaccination rate among our campus community, the most recent uptick of new cases on campus has not resulted in heightened levels of symptomatic illness among students, staff and faculty. That said, given that New York State public health law mandates a five-day isolation period for those who test positive, the surge in new cases and associated class absences has increasingly disrupted the academic experience.
Public Health Reminders
The best way to protect yourself and those around you is to continue following good public health practices, including:
As we have said from the beginning, navigating COVID health and policy concerns—on behalf of all members of our community—requires patience and flexibility of everyone in our community. We will continue to monitor current conditions and refine our guidelines based on the most up-to-date data, science and public health guidance. We appreciate your continued cooperation and ongoing commitment to maintaining a safe and healthy campus community.
Sincerely,
J. Michael Haynie
Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation
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