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Coronavirus Updates: SUNY Surpasses 129,000 COVID-19 Tests
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 2, 2020
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SUNY
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 2, 2020
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This is our daily update of breaking COVID-19 news for Friday, October 2nd, 2020. Previous daily updates can be found here, and up-to-date statistics are here.
New York City is in Phase 4 of reopening now, which includes zoos, botanical gardens, museums, and gyms. A look at preparing for the spread of coronavirus is here, and if you have lingering questions about the virus, here is our regularly updated coronavirus FAQ. Here are some local and state hotlines for more information: NYC: 311; NY State Hotline: 888-364-3065; NJ State Hotline: 800-222-1222.
Here's the latest:
- WIth Middle And High Schoolers Returning, NYC’s 1,600 Public Schools Are Back
- The NY Restaurant Industry Is Imploding According To Dire New Report
- I Ate Inside A NYC Restaurant. This Is My Story
Since the fall semester starter, the State University of New York has conducted 129,000 tests for the coronavirus.
Thepositivity rate for all SUNY campuses is 0.67%; the seven day-average is 0.40%, from 26,000 tests. This comes after outbreaks at certain campuses, like Oneonta, which ended up sending its students back home for the rest of the semester. The outbreaks were attributed to students congregating and having parties while not socially distancing or wearing masks.
SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras was at SUNY Adirondack on Thursday to join the school's president, Kristine Duffy, to announce that their school will expand its pooled surveillance testing, by testing 600 students every two weeks.
An individual saliva swab tested developed by Upstate Medical and Quadrant Biosciences was recent approved by the FDA—and it's being used by SUNY, along with the pooled testing, which also uses a saliva swab. This pooled test involves 10-25 people's samples, and if the pooled test comes back positive, SUNY's process allows them to go back and test the individual samples, versus needing another test from each person in the pool.
"Several colleges have recently completed hundreds of pool tests with positivity rates well below one percent, pushing SUNY’s overall positivity down and instilling confidence that if we all work together, we can do this," Malatras said. "I want to thank President Duffy and her team for embracing Upstate Medical’s new, nation-leading test, and SUNY Adirondack students for rising to the moment, protecting one another, and demonstrating what this university system is capable of.”
The SUNY system has introduced new sanctions for students who do not follow school protocols for public health and safety, starting on October 1st. Students could be suspended or expelled for things such as intentionally having close contact with others when they have COVID-19; failing to self-isolate; holding on- or off-campus gatherings of any sizes; failing to cooperate with contact tracing; and repeatedly not wearing masks.
"If it's really egregious, not only are we going to suspend you from our campus, you're not going to be able to attend another SUNY institution," SUNY Broome Vice President of Student Development and Chief Diversity Officer Carol Ross-Scott told WBNG.
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covid-19 updates
coronavirus
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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