Three years after the commencement of the global pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the end of the global Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19 on May 5 and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) closely followed by stating their own end on May 11.

The COVID-19 virus characterized the beginning of the decade with global consequences including lockdowns across countless countries, a slowdown in both domestic and international growth per capita and a cumulative death count of approximately 6,956,900, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). 

SUNY Oswego’s current COVID-19 policy has seen the end of the vaccination mandate, with the decision derived “at the recommendation of SUNY’s Public Health Expert Advisory Committee, which is comprised of physicians and experts in infectious disease, public health and neuroscience,” according to the university’s official website.

While the pandemic may have seen its termination at a bureaucratic level, the return of in-person schooling for the academic year, alongside the discovery of yet another variant known as BA.2.86, has resulted in a notable spike among infection rates, which may threaten the ever-so-recent shift back to normality after a difficult period of isolation. 

The linear flow of COVID-19 variants begins with the first widely recognized Alpha variant (B.1.1.7), advances through the Beta and Delta variants and ends with Omicron, which has dominated both infection and hospitalization rates across the United States for the last two years, according to Yale Medicine. Recognized as the largest academic and multispecialty practice in the New England region, Yale stated, “By December of [2021], Omicron was causing daily case numbers in the U.S. to skyrocket to over a million. In 2022, it spawned a number of sub-variants. In 2023, a new Omicron strain called EG.5 (nicknamed “Eris”) is the dominant strain in the U.S. and experts are monitoring another new strain called B.A.2.86 (nicknamed “Pirola”).”

While the Omicron variant has been labeled as the most dangerous in terms of public health and safety, “stronger immunity, COVID vaccines, tests and effective treatments” have been directly responsible for “about one-quarter of the hospitalizations in August 2023 compared to August 2022,” according to the University of California, Davis Medical Center.

Although the upward trend in COVID-19 rates is fractional when rivaled against 2022 trends, its rise is still significant enough that researchers in America have honed in on the strain’s development throughout multiple geographic regions. In its most recent update on the latest strain, the CDC said “this variant is notable because it has multiple genetic differences compared to previous versions of COVID-19 and it has been detected in several locations within a short amount of time.” 

The most recently available data from the CDC indicates that hospitalization trends as a result of COVID-19 have increased by 8.7% between Aug. 4 to Sept. 2 and correlated death trends have risen by 10.5% in the same timeframe. 

The decision to relax COVID-19 protocol on campus has yet to backfire. In contrast, infection rates within Oswego County have improved relative to 2022 with the CDC acknowledging the county’s “COVID-19 hospital admissions level” as low (<10.0). The emphasis placed on vaccinations, social distancing and consistent monitoring are credited for this progress.

While the reversal of the COVID-19 vaccination mandate now follows in principle to the university’s mask-optional policy, Acting State Health Commission Dr. James McDonald said, “While it is reassuring to see the progress we’ve made against the COVID-19 pandemic, precautions are still very important to ensure that progress continues.” 

Though BA.2.86’s volatility marks it as an unpredictable strain within the Omicron variant group, local statistics illustrate a minimal possibility that it will affect campus activities. University operations are still under heavy scrutiny, however, and “SUNY will… update its policy as needed based on local conditions or in response to requirements imposed by federal, state or local authorities,” according to SUNY Oswego.

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