It was the middle of the night when a man in a hazmat suit led a first-year student from her dormitory at State University of New York at Oneonta to a van as she cried quietly, a scary experience later shared on social media. She had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Students, parents and staff members said they were dismayed that SUNY Oneonta did not require students to have negative virus tests before they arrived. Nor did the university test students once they came to campus. The university also did not closely prevent gatherings in off-campus housing.Next semester, all SUNY schools will be required to develop testing plans, and surveillance testing is now mandatory on every campus, according to the system chancellor, Jim Malatras.
“We asked students to quarantine for seven days and 14 days if they were traveling from a hot state or out of the country,” the statement said.As the dust settles, families, students and staff members said they had been left confused and disappointed. Jacob Adler, 20, said the college relied too heavily on students maintaining social distance on their own.
Outbreaks in universities around the country have shown that perhaps no perfect plan exists. But most experts have agreed that testing should be an important aspect of reopening campuses. Story continuesBut a spokeswoman for SUNY denied that state officials had approved the plan. On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Oneonta said that the school “should have been more clear” that only SUNY had approved the plan, based on guidelines set by New York State.
Little to no restrictions kept students from leaving the campus. Though officials blame the outbreak on large gatherings, students like Juliet Pinkney, 20, a sophomore, said she was able to meet with a small group of friends at an off-campus apartment with no problem. Out of the 29 preliminary pools of Oneonta students, 19 returned positive, Malatras said, meaning anywhere from 19 to 90 students from those pools were infected.The virus’s spread was unwavering. Within days, 29 more positive cases were found, and the school suspended five students for having organized parties. Soon after, 105 students — or about 3% of the people who were on campus or using campus facilities by then — had tested positive.
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