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Syracuse University is looking to resume in-person activities as early as later this week following ongoing efforts to contain a cluster of coronavirus cases on campus.

After working to contain the cluster to a group of students associated with at least one party on Walnut Avenue, SU is now increasing its efforts to ensure the virus doesn’t spread indirectly to the wider campus community. As the number of new cases drops, university officials are considering resuming some of the in-person activities they suspended last week. 

“I am optimistic, as informed by data, not just my gut, that we have our arms around the network of individuals that were associated with the off-campus party late last week,” said Vice Chancellor Mike Haynie, who has spearheaded SU’s coronavirus response. “What we are seeing is a slowdown in the number of positive cases that can be directly linked back to that series of events.”

After announcing the cluster, SU paused all in-person student activities with the exception of classes and intercollegiate athletics. The Barnes Center at The Arch and all SU satellite gyms, including the Ernie Davis gym and the outdoor exercise spaces on the Women’s Building field, also closed abruptly to limit the cluster’s spread. 

Though the university is looking to resume in-person student activities this week, it would be irresponsible for SU to do so until it’s absolutely certain that it would not create conditions for the cluster to spread further, Haynie said.

“I want to get those things reopened as soon as we possibly can,” Haynie said. “It is my view that, over the course of the next two to three days, we should have the data that we need in order to make an assessment that we can reopen those things safely.”

SU has traced the cluster back to at least one student who traveled to Binghamton, which is in an area that New York state designated to be a coronavirus hotspot. From there, the university has said the virus spread through at least one party at an apartment complex on Walnut Avenue.

The university first began receiving positive test results related to the cluster Oct. 4, Haynie said. An individual who tested positive for COVID-19 that day revealed information through the contact tracing process about the “chain of events” that would cause the cluster, he said.

“By Monday morning, we had an indication that we were going to have a problem based on what we learned by the contact tracing effort,” Haynie said. SU announced the cluster in a news release Tuesday. 

SU confirmed new cases in the double-digits every day between Tuesday and Saturday. That number dropped on Sunday and Monday, with SU confirming zero and six new cases among students in central New York, respectively. 

Ninety-five percent or more of the cases that SU confirmed last week were associated with the off-campus party or parties that sparked the cluster, Haynie said.

Most of the cases related to the party on Walnut Avenue were among students living off campus. SU also identified two cases in SU dorms in the past week — one in Watson Hall and one in Dellplain Hall — and the university is asking all residents in both buildings to participate in a round of surveillance testing, Haynie said.

If the virus were to spread substantially in residence halls, it would put SU in a precarious situation, Haynie said.

SU has not clarified what disciplinary measures, if any, it will take for students involved in the cluster. While Haynie doesn’t oversee accountability for students who violate SU’s coronavirus-related health guidelines, he said the university will likely release more information about discipline in the coming days.

The students who were involved in the cluster, though, were forthcoming in the university’s testing and contact tracing process, Haynie said — a critical factor in SU’s ability to move quickly to contain the cluster. Had students not shared information, the university would have been “days behind” in responding to the outbreak, he said.

“The one positive thing that happened last week is that the students who were involved with this were honest and truthful with the university,” Haynie said. “There’s nothing more critical than that.”

Last week’s cluster brought SU closer than it has ever been to a New York state limit that would have required the university to move classes online. Under the state’s guidelines, universities that see 100 positive COVID-19 test results within two weeks must pause in-person instruction and limit on-campus activities for at least 14 days.

SU confirmed 80 cases within the 14-day period that ended on Friday at 4 p.m., falling short of the state limit by 20. The state’s two-week periods are set, not rolling, Haynie confirmed, meaning that SU restarted with a clean slate after the Friday deadline passed.

“If you’re going to ask me what the logic or the science is behind that is, I could not answer that question,” Haynie said.

The cluster at SU was one of two to emerge in Onondaga County last week, the other surfacing at a local manufacturing plant. Coronavirus infection rates have also risen in hot spots across New York state.

The university is planning on another in-person semester in the spring, having already announced the academic schedule for the semester. If coronavirus transmission rates rise in the area surrounding SU over winter break, though, the university may have to reconsider its plans for in-person instruction in the spring, Haynie said.

“It’s an unknown what the community situation will look like in January,” Haynie said. “If (transmission is) sufficiently high, we would have to have a conversation about whether or not it even makes sense and is safe to restart.”

University officials are also aware that the incoming cold weather will eliminate many of the outdoor spaces SU has been using to promote social distancing, such as outdoor teaching tents, Haynie said. This poses a challenge both to the fall and spring semester, he said.

The Carrier Dome may provide additional space for the university as winter arrives, Haynie said. The university is already using the space as a COVID-19 testing site.

Haynie is working with Pete Sala, vice president and chief facilities officer, and other university officials to find ways to repurpose the Dome as a multifunctional space.

“Now that we have the majority of the big work done on the stadium, we’re looking for opportunities to use that,” Haynie said. “We can create some socially distanced kinds of opportunities for everything from student activities to classes.”

Published on October 13, 2020 at 1:36 am

Contact Chris: cjhippen@syr.edu