As COVID-19 cases continue to rise sharply in the Capital Region, thousands of local college students are preparing to leave town next week for the Thanksgiving holiday, followed by a prolonged winter break.
Colleges and universities are ending in-person classes early and setting up other safeguards to reduce the risk of students transmitting the virus to their families and communities back home. However, securing enough rapid tests to screen every student days before they depart - as public health experts recommend - is a scramble for many schools.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's office has agreed to supply 93,000 rapid tests, which were distributed among 59 private institutions across the state, to aid the effort, according to the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (CICU).
"In some cases, the (COVID-19 tests) supplemented the existing testing capacity they had on hand; in other cases, it's their entire testing capacity," CICU President Mary Beth Labate said.
Labate noted that for most of the semester, infection rates remained low among New York's more than 100 private not-for-profit colleges and universities. From Aug. 1 through Oct. 27, these schools conducted more than 854,000 tests, with 1,354 positives -- a positivity rate of 0.16 percent -- according to data from the state's School COVID-19 Report Card.
“The meticulous planning and diligent protocols ... independent colleges and universities put in place at the beginning of this fall semester – a time when many questioned whether colleges could reopen at all – continues to pay off,” Labate said.
Still, many campuses have seen COVID-19 numbers rise dramatically in recent days as infection rates soar across the state and around the nation, but lack the capacity and resources to test their entire populations.
The College of Saint Rose — which does sample testing on 1 to 2 percent of its population each week — has eight active COVID-19 cases, including two students and employees, bringing the total COVID-19 count to 17 for the fall semester.
As a precautionary measure, college officials announced Sunday that all classes will shift online and in-person activities will be cancelled beginning Nov. 17. In preparation for winter break, the Albany liberal arts college is offering rapid testing to students with vulnerable family members upon request.
"While we have done extremely well for so many months, the situation at Saint Rose is influenced by the regional and local virus spread ... the rapid pace that the number of positive cases is climbing in New York and nationally is concerning," Saint Rose Interim President Marcia J. White wrote in a letter to the campus community.
Siena College, which currently has 18 positive students and 119 total for the semester, has grappled with infection clusters during the semester. The college conducts wastewater testing at its dormitories and tests a sample of its population each week, but doesn't have the capacity to test its entire student body before Thanksgiving.
"Siena College has been reaching out to students through multiple channels since mid-October to help them plan for COVID-19 testing shortly before they return home for the holiday break," Siena spokeswoman Lisa Witkowski said.
The college has expanded its surveillance testing leading up to the end of the semester to cover approximately 15 percent of the student body weekly, and has offered two on-campus free testing opportunities for students. The school is also coordinating with the county Department of Health, UAlbany, and various community testing sites to help students get tested.
Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, which partners with the Broad Institute to provide weekly testing of its on-campus population, on Monday announced that it was shifting to all remote classes after four people tested positive for the virus on Sunday and seven more cases were identified last Tuesday. Some 19 students, faculty and staff have contracted the virus since August, according to data from the college and the state's COVID-19 tracking system.
A spokesperson for the college said all students will be tested before leaving for the break and upon their return.
The State University of New York, which earlier this year set up system-wide "pool" testing of the on-campus student populations at its 64 locations, announced last week that it will require every campus to create a schedule to test each student as close to their departure dates as possible.
For most SUNY schools, the tests are processed through SUNY's Upstate Medical University.
University at Albany (UAlbany), which has created its own pool testing program and screens the entire campus population regularly through the UAlbany RNA Institute, last week cut the fall semester short after seeing a spike in coronavirus cases.
At UAlbany, there are currently 284 students isolating or in quarantine, and more than 400 students, faculty, and staff who have been infected with the virus since the start of the semester.
Over the past few months, private colleges and universities have also ramped up the scope of their surveillance testing, including pooled saliva tests and wastewater surveillance. More institutions also received approval from regulatory agencies to administer diagnostic COVID-19 screenings.
Most schools planned to conclude in-person classes before Thanksgiving break to avoid unnecessary travel during flu season when scientists predicted there would be a second coronavirus wave. Many colleges are planning to begin the spring semester late, with some staggering the return to campus or resuming classes as late as February.
November 17, 2020 at 06:05PM
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/As-COVID-19-climbs-colleges-send-thousands-of-15731100.php
As COVID-19 climbs, colleges prepare to send students back home - Times Union
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