Dear Students, Faculty, Staff and Administration,

SUNY Oswego is taking several immediate and significant actions to mitigate the spread of the virus both on and off campus. We have seen an upward trend in our positive cases of COVID-19 (see SUNY Oswego COVID-19 dashboard), and we are moving swiftly to institute new measures to protect the members of our campus and the neighboring community of Oswego.

In the last two days we have more than doubled the available quarantine and isolation rooms by re-opening the newly renovated Funnelle Hall and increasing the total quarantine rooms to 208 and isolation rooms to 144 (total of 352 rooms).  Currently 63 of the total 208 designated quarantine rooms are in use; while 55 of the total 144 designated isolation rooms are occupied.

We are mobilizing a new and expanded surveillance testing operation in a heightened effort to identify COVID-19 on our campus.  A dedicated testing center is being prepared in Lee Hall next week and will be staffed with additional medical professionals to assist with our COVID testing.  Our proactive plan is to operate our testing center on a regular basis throughout the week, including weekends and evenings for the remainder of the semester to make saliva testing available for SUNY Oswego students and employees who may have come into contact with a positive or suspected positive case or who simply wish to be tested.

Such continued aggressive testing, in addition to implementing wastewater testing of SUNY Oswego’s 12 residence halls, will also allow us to collect data that may become important to our campus as well as local and state health departments in planning the coming weeks and months.

Oswego staff and administration, and University Police are working closely with the City of Oswego, Mayor Barlow’s office and the City of Oswego Police Department on outreach, care and enforcement of the off-campus student population.  Mayor Barlow shared that “President Stanley and her cabinet have been great partners, working with the City on proactive education and enforcement, and being transparent in our shared community’s fight against the pandemic.  We will continue to work together with the health of the entire Oswego community as our priority.”

In another significant move to reduce spread, SUNY Oswego has also paused all athletics activity including team meetings and workouts for at least 14 days. The campus has undertaken a pervasive social norming effort with outdoor kiosks, posters, digital signs and more to continue to stress the importance of self-quarantining if you are not feeling well, washing your hands, wearing your mask, socially distancing, limiting travel, and refraining from hosting or attending parties or large gatherings.

We remind the entire campus community that we are #TogetherOz and that our actions are critical to the safety of everyone in our community.

Sincerely,