A few days after several new covid cases were reported, Cornell University The university on Tuesday announced that it has moved the final examinations online and put the campus on high alert.
In the past few days, suspected cases of the new Omicron variant have come to the fore, causing concern among university officials. The University of Upstate New York said on Monday alone, 272 students on the 24,000-student campus have tested positive for the virus. Its COVID-19 dashboard reported 903 new student cases in the past week, with more than 700 of them detected since Saturday during a post-Thanks spike among vaccinated students.
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“Cornell’s extensive surveillance trial (Monday) highlighted the potential early and rapid spread of the omicron version of SARS-CoV-2 among our student population,” Joel Malina, vice president of university relations, told the AP. “Preliminary, preliminary screening results suggest that the variant now accounts for a much higher percentage of our positive COVID-19 cases,” Joel said.
With only a few days left in the semester, Cornell President Martha Pollack moved the campus to a high-alert state in an attempt to limit the spread. Libraries and fitness centers were closed, games were canceled and students were encouraged to stay in Ithaca until a negative COVID-19 test was received. According to news agency AP, the campus is scheduled to be closed for the winter break at the end of the week.
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“It is certainly extremely disappointing to have to take these steps,” Pollack said. “However, since the start of the pandemic, our commitment has been to follow the science and do everything we can to protect the health of our faculty, staff and students,” Pollack said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said New York had reported 38 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant as of Tuesday. 23 of them were in New York City, four were in Suffolk County and others were scattered among Westchester, Broome, Nassau, Oneida and Onondaga counties. Cornell is located in Tompkins County.
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