Updated Fall 2022 COVID-19 Guidance

Dear Members of the SUNY Oswego Community,

In accordance with SUNY’s new, updated Fall 2022 COVID-19 guidance and policy that were released last week, the following changes have been made to our Oswego Forward plan this fall:

• Surveillance testing will no longer be required for any student with a regular physical presence on campus who has a campus approved medical or religious exemption from the SUNY COVID-19 vaccination requirement.
  
  
• SUNY Oswego will close its COVID-19 Testing Centers (both main and Syracuse campuses) effective 5 p.m. on Wednesday, September 21, 2022, due to surveillance testing no longer being required.
  
  
• Testing is recommended for people with symptoms of COVID-19 as soon as possible after symptoms begin. Students experiencing COVID-19 symptoms are encouraged to test by using at-home rapid tests, which are available for purchase at local pharmacies and currently being made available at residence hall information desks, the welcome center desk in the Marano Campus Center, and the Mary Walker Health Center. If you want to get a PCR test or need to be seen for something else, you will need to make an appointment with Health Services. Please remember that you must wear a mask to enter Health Services
  
  
• Per SUNY’s new guidance, campuses are no longer required to report COVID-19 testing results daily through the SUNY Health Portal. Effective this past Friday, September 9, 2022, SUNY decommissioned its COVID-19 tracker. However, SUNY Oswego will continue to generate daily internal reports that allow the leadership of the university to carefully assess the health of the campus community (e.g., review new positives, current active cases, and data associated with the number of students and employees in isolation, both on- and off-campus, recoveries, and positivity rate on campus).

It is important to stress to our students, faculty and staff that we care deeply for all members of our campus community. Leadership continues to monitor the health and safety of our campus, talk to SUNY officials regularly, and engage in the careful review of local conditions with healthcare experts and our partners from the Oswego County Health Department.

We stand with you and besides you in our continued efforts to mitigate the COVID-19 virus but also to learn to live with it as we work to provide you all with a safe, vibrant, and active living-learning environment where we can all thrive and grow.

For more information, please visit the Oswego Forward website.  #BeWellOswego.

Sincerely, 

Victoria L. Furlong, Vice President for Administration and Finance, Campus Safety Monitor
Kathleen G. Kerr, Vice President for Student Affairs
Christy Huynh, Dean of Students