ITHACA, N.Y. (WBEN) — Cornell University announced Tuesday it will move to an "alert level red," shifting all finals online, canceling on-campus events and closing campus facilities amid a surge of COVID-19 cases and detections of the omicron variant.
"Since our Saturday message, our surveillance testing has continued to identify the rapid spread of COVID-19 among our student population," President Martha Pollack said in a statement. "While faculty and staff case numbers currently remain low, just last evening our COVID-19 testing lab team identified evidence of the highly contagious omicron variant in a significant number of Monday’s positive student samples."
The school is implementing a series of changes and cancelations as a result.
They include the following:
• All university activities involving undergraduates (including events and social gatherings) and all university-sponsored events (including winter celebrations) are canceled.
• The Dec. 18 recognition ceremony for December graduates is canceled.
• Students utilizing Cornell Dining are strongly encouraged to “grab-and-go”; if you must eat near others, please do so at a distance.
• Libraries are closed to students.
• Athletics competitions on Sunday are canceled. Fitness centers and gyms are closed to students.
• Offices and labs remain open, but undergraduate students should not participate in any work-study or lab work.
According to Cornell's data, 97% of the student population has been vaccinated. However, as of Sunday, the university is reporting 469 active cases on campus — its highest number since the start of the pandemic.
Students who tested negative for COVID-19 on Saturday or Sunday are welcome to leave campus, but are asked to wear a mask at all times during travel, take a COVID-19 test at their destination, and self-quarantine until they receive their result.
Any student who has not tested negative in the past 48 hours is asked to take a supplemental test. Mandatory surveillance testing will continue for all currently enrolled employees.
Pollack clarified that the university's evidence of the omicron variant "is preliminary."
She added that as Cornell awaits confirmatory sequencing information to ensure the source is the new variant, the university is proceeding with caution.
"We need to do what we can to limit further spread, even though we are just a few days away from the end of the semester," Pollack said.
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