By Annika Wickham
Cornell University recently moved from alert level green to alert level yellow as they experience a spike in positive COVID-19 cases, which raised concerns for other colleges who have followed similar protocols.
“COVID-19 cases on the Ithaca campus are increasing beyond the university’s predictions, indicating a substantial prevalence of the virus on campus,” an announcement by the university stated. “As a result, the Ithaca campus will move to COVID-19 Alert Level Yellow, effective immediately.”
According to the Cornell University COVID-19 Tracking website, the campus has three alert levels: green, which shows campus cases are at or below predicted rates, yellow indicates the campus transmission rates are rising and cases are above predicted levels and red is when isolation facilities or local hospital capacity is limited and case numbers are about predicted levels.
According to Kathleen Clifford, a student at Cornell, currently students only have to wear masks in a classroom and lab setting and all testing is optional. Though Cornell is seeing a rise in positive results, they have not reinstated any testing or mask mandates beyond what was already in place.
“This time nothing has changed except for recommended protocols,” Clifford said. “I think [the email] said try to reduce social gatherings and be mindful if you’re symptomatic; They encouraged us to get tested, that sort of thing.”
As of March 29, Cornell has 279 active student cases and 79 new positives that day. The university lifted their mask requirement for the majority of on-campus locations on March 14 and moved into alert level yellow nine days later on March 23.
SUNY Oswego lifted its mask mandate on March 4 and according to Affirmative Action Officer Reginald Braggs, the college has been focused on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, Oswego county and science in general when making decisions about COVID-19 protocols.
The switch from mask mandates to optional mask wearing was “sweeping New York,” Braggs said, and based on data from the City of Oswego and the campus, it would not be a danger to lift the mandate. Even with spring break starting a week after it was lifted, Braggs said they were confident in the decision.
“Spring break was a concern,” Braggs said. “[But] it’s going very well. Spring break is a moment in time, spikes can happen. We just focus on the science.”
Cornell’s spring break begins April 2 and according to Clifford, the university has not changed any of their requirements despite the current high level of cases.
“They recommended we get tested before and after but it has not been mandated yet,” Clifford said. “They might mandate it for when we get back from spring break but I doubt they will because we have a lot of cases right now … so I think we will have a pretty high level of immunity on campus.”
Similar to Cornell’s recommendations, SUNY Oswego has continued to offer on-campus COVID-19 testing and provided at-home tests to students who were traveling for spring break, according to Victoria Furlong, SUNY Oswego’s Campus Safety Monitor.
“Our health center provided tests to some students who requested them so they could test upon return from spring break, especially those students who were traveling over the break,” Furlong said in an email. “We continue to encourage all students to visit the on-campus COVID testing center … symptomatic or not.”
Braggs also said that the school was not overly concerned about spring break because they have handled spikes before, so they know what to expect. He continued by saying that the SUNY COVID-19 Case Tracker is continuously updated, so cases would be monitored as they arose just as they have been.
“We are closely watching the health of our campus community, providing daily updates to the SUNY dashboard, and monitoring our campus positivity rate,” Wayne Westervelt, SUNY Oswego’s Chief Communication Officer, said in an email. “This dedicated focus on the numbers allows us to be aware of and in front of any spikes in cases on our campus, and has SUNY Oswego ready to act if necessary.”
SUNY Oswego, as of March 31, has nine students in mandatory quarantine and 10 positive campus administered tests over the past 14 days, according to the SUNY COVID-19 Case Tracker.
Braggs credits the low number of cases to students continuing to wear masks and follow COVID-19 protocols when they feel necessary. Clifford agrees with this and said that she does not expect Cornell’s spike to continue after spring break.
“At this point if you haven’t been exposed you are taking suitable precautions,” Clifford said. “I don’t think you’ll be exposed on spring break if you continue to take those precautions.”
Though SUNY Oswego has had few positive cases for the spring 2022 semester, Furlong said she hopes students and faculty will continue to stop the spread of the virus.
“Having a largely vaccinated and boosted student population at SUNY Oswego has been our strongest mitigation effort against the spread of COVID,” Furlong said. “We have been very pleased with our students’ and employees’ response to COVID protocols, but we will continue to ask our campus community to remain vigilant as we know the virus remains present around us.”
Photo via Flickr
