January 11, 2022
Dear students and colleagues:
We know that last week’s announcement regarding the delayed start to the semester came as a shock. We get it. We are all frustrated and tired of dealing with the pandemic. Despite that, though, we must continue to persevere and keep one another safe. We know that there are many questions regarding the decision to delay the start of classes and wanted to provide more information, on behalf of our areas and of the Emergency Response Resource Group.
New directives & increased positivity rate
As a state institution, we are required to follow direction from the Governor, SUNY, and the New York State Department of Health. All three had major announcements in the week preceding our decision:
- On December 31, Governor Hochul announced that all students at SUNY and CUNY schools must receive their COVID booster, if they are eligible, by January 15 (this date has been changed to February 1, or within a month of when students become eligible).
- On January 1, campuses received SUNY’s COVID-19 Guidance for Spring 2022, which includes a requirement to test all students upon arrival and to continue testing those who aren’t boosted regularly throughout the semester.
- On January 5, we received the updated requirements for quarantine and isolation from the New York State Department of Health. Last semester, if you were vaccinated and a contact of someone who tested positive, you did not need to quarantine as long as you were asymptomatic. The new requirements have changed this. If you are eligible for a booster, but have not gotten it, you will now be required to quarantine for 5 days after a contact.
In addition to these directives, New York State’s positivity rate has continued to grow. At the end of the Fall 2021 semester, the positivity rate of NYS counties ranged from 7%-14%. Last Thursday, counties ranged from 11%-38%, and the state average is approximately 25%.
Why this matters
The positivity rate, in and of itself, is concerning. For the Spring 2022 semester, we will have approximately 2,000 students, who will all need to be tested upon arrival. With a 25% state positivity rate, we are facing the possibility that we could have 500 students test positive upon arrival. This number would completely overwhelm our isolation space on campus, which can only accommodate about 250 people. Additionally, given the rising case numbers here in the North Country, we also have to take into account the numbers of employees who may either need to isolate or quarantine themselves, or who need to take time to help care for children or loved ones who have been exposed.
We thought that we could handle the positivity rate by getting as many students as possible to test prior to their return to campus, and this continues to be a critical step to us being able to reopen safely. However, we need time to handle the changes to quarantine. As of last week, we have 1,600 students (75%) who are eligible for the booster who have not yet received it. In the fall semester, we averaged 30 close contacts for each positive person. If 75% of those contacts now need to be quarantined, we’d have 22 people who would need to quarantine for each positive person.
We can get through this by getting boosted and tested before arriving to campus.
While all of this is concerning, all hope is not lost. Unlike past semesters, we have tangible steps that we can do.
- GET BOOSTED, if eligible (5 months after last Pfizer shot, 6 months after Moderna, 2 months after Johnson & Johnson). We all want a “normal” semester, and this is the single most important thing we can all do. It can take a week or more to get in for your booster shot, so if you do not yet have a scheduled appointment, please make one now.
- PLAN TO BE TESTED BEFORE YOU ARRIVE. We need as many students as possible to get tested before you arrive to campus. If you are planning on getting a PCR test, it needs to be scheduled within 72 hours of your arrival as follows:
Arrival Date Earliest Testing Date Thursday, January 27 Monday, January 24 Saturday, January 29 Wednesday, January 26 Sunday, January 30 Thursday, January 27
You can find COVID testing sites and schedule your test here. In addition, NYS has partnered with Quadrant Biosciences (the lab that does our tests on campus) and has clinics at a number of locations across the state. You can book an appointment with one of them, and have your results sent to SUNY Potsdam.
If you are planning on using a rapid antigen at-home test, please work to secure one now and make sure not to take it until 6 hours prior to your arrival to campus.
For those who are unable to get tested before arrival, tests will be available on both the Potsdam and Watertown campuses. But please, to help reduce the strain on our isolation/quarantine space, do all you can to test before you leave.
If you’ve tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 90 days, you do not need to be tested. Students need to make sure that Student Health Services has record of your positive result by uploading it to the secure file upload here. Employees should notify Human Resources if you have tested positive.
Employees who are unvaccinated or those who have chosen not to show proof of full vaccination will continue to test on a weekly basis. Weekly testing is also available on a voluntary basis for vaccinated employees.
Delaying the start of the semester gives us time to get boosted, get tested, and, with luck, allows the positivity rate in NYS to decrease. Many have asked why we did not go virtual to start the semester. In short, we didn’t feel that the positives would outweigh the negatives for our students’ learning outcomes. We know from campus survey data that many students struggle with virtual learning and that it can create inequities when not everyone has the support they need to succeed. Many students do not have the appropriate technology, reliable internet, or places in their homes where they could focus on their studies. By delaying, we hope to allow all our students to start in a place that can allow them to be successful.
It is hard to believe that it has been almost 2 years since the start of the pandemic. Despite the challenges we have faced, we continue to rise; we continue to be a strong community. There is no denying that the start of this semester will be tough, but by getting boosted and tested before arrival we can hope to regain the sense of normalcy that we experienced in the fall semester and the delay to the start of the semester allows for the time needed for us to do this.
Thank you for all that you are doing to keep yourselves and each other safe.
Sincerely,
Julie M. Dold, Director of Residence Life
Tracy Harcourt, Director of Student Health Services