SU increases COVID-19 precautions in hopes of avoiding another shutdown

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As Syracuse University students return to campus for the spring semester, administrators are hoping that new rules and regulations will prevent another campus shutdown. 

SU’s in-person fall semester was supposed to last until Thanksgiving. Instead, students headed home in droves as COVID-19 cases skyrocketed at the beginning of November, some describing significant testing delays and gaps in the university’s contact tracing efforts. 

Vice Chancellor Mike Haynie, who has been spearheading SU’s public health efforts, knew that the fall semester was a challenge for students and faculty. But the spring semester poses unique risks, as cases of the virus surge in parts of the country. SU needed to implement major changes to safely resume in-person learning, Haynie said. 

“I have no illusions that this will be a semester in which we can let our guard down,” he said. 

In December, SU announced that it would expand its contact tracing team from 30 students to 50. It’s also hiring full-time contact tracing employees to assist the student workers and volunteers who led the effort in the fall. 

Though contact tracing can be a hassle for students, it’s an essential way to contain the virus, said Taylor Spires, a member of the contact tracing team.

“A lot of students are not aware that they came in contact, and it’s important that we efficiently quarantine those students so we can minimize the spread of the virus,” Spires said.

SU has also made considerable changes to its testing procedures since the fall, when delays contributed to large spikes in cases after Halloween and again toward the end of the semester, Haynie said. That post-Halloween spike was the culmination of relaxed student behavior combined with an inability to return test results quickly enough, he said. 

“Although we tested that week after Halloween, it took us too long to result those tests,” Haynie said. “As a consequence, there were too many folks that were infected over the Halloween weekend that lingered in our campus community for more days than they should have, and the situation got out of hand very quickly.” 

SU administered just over 100,000 COVID-19 tests on campus between August and December, in partnership with SUNY Upstate Medical University. The university anticipates that it will collect between 250,000 and 300,000 samples from students, faculty and staff from January to May, more than doubling its capacity. 

Other COVID-19 stories on SU’s campus:

• SU to ramp up COVID-19 contact tracing, testing for spring semester
• SU begins using new COVID-19 testing method
• COVID-19 testing to be required every 7 days for students in spring semester
• SU will provide COVID-19 testing for family of faculty, staff

SU decided to institute a testing process that scientists at Yale University created, which will produce results within 24 to 36 hours, significantly faster than in the fall. 

SU also moved away from a randomized testing model in favor of a more aggressive strategy that requires the entire student body to receive a COVID-19 test every week and divides students and staff into six distinct testing categories. 

In the event that a student misses a single round of testing, the university will block the student from accessing several university systems, including campus Wi-Fi, Blackboard and MySlice — resources that allow students to access classwork and manage their financial aid, among other things.

Students also have to reaffirm the Stay Safe Pledge, which requires the use of masks and social distancing, outlines the new testing procedures and asks students to take an “active role” in protecting the campus. Officials are hoping that the updated pledge, coupled with new penalties for missing testing, will keep students and staff safe, Haynie said. 

“Ultimately, it will be about the community rallying around the idea that we want to be here,” Haynie said. “We can test and test and test, but if folks continue to engage in risky behavior, we’re still going to be in the same position.”

SU is still under the New York State advisory that would mandate the shutdown of in-person learning should the university exceed 100 new cases of the virus within a two week period. Haynie said he’s cautiously optimistic that the new policies will protect against a spike in cases, so long as the student body continues to cooperate.

“We have to be exceptionally vigilant,” Haynie said.