Commuter Student Tests Positive for COVID-19

Dear Members of the Campus Community:

A student reported to the College that she tested positive for COVID-19 today.

The student is a commuter who was last on campus on March 13. She reported the onset of symptoms consistent with an upper respiratory infection on March 9, and was prescribed antibiotics by her primary care provider. Her symptoms continued and she subsequently saw her primary care provider via teleconference on March 23, was administered a test for COVID-19 on March 24, and received a positive test result today, April 2.

The student is currently in quarantine at her home in Dutchess County.

The student attended classes during the week of March 9-13. We are working closely with the Ulster County Department of Health and Mental Health and the Ulster County Office of Emergency Management to reach out to any students, faculty or staff members who may have come in contact with this individual.

Per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines, any of those potential secondary exposures may already be out of quarantine, assuming they never became symptomatic and have been cleared by a physician, given that their possible exposure on campus could have occurred no later than March 13, more than 14 days ago.

Also, because it has been more than 7 days since the student was on campus, we do not need to deploy any focused cleaning of the classrooms or academic buildings that the student entered at this time, per current CDC guidance. As of this writing, we can confirm that seven employees and nine students have tested positive for COVID-19. All have been quarantined at home or in the hospital. Some are already feeling better.

We are activating all necessary protocols and will provide timely updates to all members of the campus community. We remind members of our community that the CDC has advised that there is “No Identifiable Risk” to an individual who walks or briefly shares a room with a COVID-19-positive individual. That guidance can be found in Table 1 of the CDC’s interim guidance for risk assessment related to perceived levels of exposure.

We continue to recommend that members of our community who are experiencing flu-like symptoms practice good public health protocols by resting, drinking lots of fluids, reducing contact with others, restricting their movement around campus, and contacting the Student Health Center or their primary care physician.

Campus leadership is continuing to monitor developments related to COVID-19 with guidance from the CDC and our local and state health departments, as well as SUNY System Administration and the Governor’s Office. Please continue to monitor campus e-mail for updates. Campus community members can view updates at the Coronavirus Information and Coronavirus FAQs webpages, which are being updated regularly as this situation evolves

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