The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
COVID-19 summary for local colleges
Area colleges are up and running for the fall semester and are currently monitoring COVID-19 on campus.
SUNY Morrisville, Cazenovia College, and Colgate University all have online coronavirus dashboards updated regularly to keep the community informed.
SUNY Morrisville’s dashboard was updated Sept. 2 and shows zero active student cases. Testing was not required prior to arrival on campus, however, 469 tests have been conducted on campus, mostly pooled testing and one nasal swab test, all with negative results. The college also notes that wastewater testing has not yet detected the virus.
Cazenovia’s dashboard, last updated on August 27, also shows zero active cases. Students were required to test for COVID-19 prior to arrival. 55 random tests have been conducted on
campus, all with negative results. The college plans to continue bi-weekly tests about 5% of its campus population (students and employees) randomly.
Colgate also required students to test for COVID-19 prior to arrival. The college says in their reopening plan that all students would also be tested within 24 hours of arrival and again 2 weeks later.
Colgate’s dashboard doesn’t list current active cases, but it does show how many have been tested thus far by the college and how many have been positive. The college has tested 3,832 students and employees between the period of August 26-August 31, and 27 tests have come back positive.
Some of these individuals are quarantining outside of Madison County (such as faculty living elsewhere) or have already recovered, and so this is not an accurate number to represent the current number of active cases in the community.
A Madison County official confirmed with the Dispatch that there are currently 16 active Colgate cases in the county. This is two fewer than earlier this week as two positive students have transferred to their home county to isolate under the supervision of their county health department. The Madison County Department of Health (MCDOH) reviewed and approved the students’ travel plan by private vehicle, without stops.
Madison County as a whole has 19 active cases with the majority being in Hamilton.
All area colleges work with the Madison County Health Department for contact tracing in regards to a positive case that’s residing within the county. If a college affiliate is determined to live in another county, MCDOH works with that county to make sure the individual is properly accounted for.