SU to no longer mandate COVID-19 isolation, requires 24 hours of no fever to return

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Syracuse University students, faculty and staff who test positive for COVID-19 will no longer be required to isolate for multiple days or submit notice of a positive test result, the university announced in a campus-wide email Thursday.

Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 may resume “normal activities” if symptoms show signs of improvement and if a fever is no longer present without using “fever-reducing medication,” according to the new guidelines from the New York State Department of Health.

Positive-testing individuals must meet both requirements within 24 hours to return to normal activities, according to the NYSDOH. Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 is advised to stay home if experiencing symptoms like fevers, chills and fatigue, Raina wrote.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new guidelines on response protocol for testing for COVID-19 on March 1. The protocols were also adopted by the NYSDOH on Monday, Ramesh Raina, a professor in the department of Biology, wrote in the email.

Anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 is advised to stay home if experiencing symptoms like fevers, chills and fatigue, Raina wrote.

Weekly hospital admissions and deaths from COVID-19 have decreased by 75% and 90%, respectively, since January 2022, according to the CDC.

Raina wrote in the email that the university encourages people to consider vaccination for illnesses like COVID-19. SU announced it would no longer require proof of COVID-19 vaccination prior to coming to campus in May 2023. The university stopped updating its COVID-19 dashboard in May 2022.

Students, faculty and staff can find locations offering COVID-19 vaccinations using the CDC’s Vaccine Finder, which includes the pharmacy at the Barnes Center, Raina wrote.