These past few months have been filled with confusion and fear about what the future of the Oswego State campus and education will look like amid COVID-19.
The campus looks a lot different this year, with masks, social distancing and many online classes. Students have had to change and adapt to this new environment.
As of Sept. 10, there have been a total of 78 positive cases out of 6,290 tests conducted, with one case recovered. The college’s COVID-19 Dashboard is updated daily to provide up to date information on the health and safety of the Oswego State campus community.
Results are being closely monitored so appropriate action can be taken in consultation with the Oswego County Health Department. Residential students who have tested positive are being moved to campus-supported isolation rooms, and residential students who may have been in close contact with those who have tested positive are being moved to campus-supported quarantine rooms.
In the case that Oswego State reaches 100 cases, or 5% of the general population receives positive test results, whichever is lower, the school will transition to remote learning and instruction for 14 days. In this situation, residential facilities will remain open. Only students who have tested positive, or have been in contact with a positive case, will be ordered into isolation.
If Oswego State needs to initiate a pivot to completely remote learning due to an overwhelming numbers of positive COVID-19 cases, the college will work with the county and state health department to ensure that students can safely return home. Students with extenuating circumstances may be allowed to stay on campus even though instruction would be remote.
In President Deborah Stanley’s email on Sept. 7, she stated that despite the rise in cases this past weekend, Oswego State has a very low infection rate, and is doing much better than other schools across both the state and nation, including SUNY Oneonta which has a total of 651 cases and University of Buffalo which has 113 total cases as of Sept. 8
“This week we will begin notifying campus generally of the face-to-face classes that have a student enrolled who has tested positive for COVID-19 (without identifying the student),” Stanley said. “We will provide on-campus tests for faculty and students in those classes. We are also significantly increasing ongoing on-campus testing immediately. I have charged the SUNY Oswego campus to continue administering saliva-based testing for the rest of the semester as we move from baseline testing to aggressive surveillance testing. Such continued testing will support our ongoing efforts to monitor and protect all members of the SUNY Oswego community.”
All the stress and fear surrounding COVID-19 can be detrimental to emotional health. The Counseling Services Center has an abundance of services and resources for students to use and take advantage of. Walk-in services have been suspended, but students can call the health center at 315-312-4416 for more information on telecounseling.
The Counseling Services Center’s Instagram page, @mindful_oz, is another platform for students to receive updates on mental health help.
Photo from Pixabay
