Dear Campus Community,
Today I am writing to alert you to a sharp rise in confirmed positive COVID-19 cases within our student body. We realize that this can be an alarming and stressful time, and we want to reiterate some public health practices that can help mitigate a further rise in COVID-19 cases.
Last year we took extra steps in our public health policies such as face coverings indoors, frequent hand hygiene, and responsible social interactions to help control the spread of COVID-19. I am once again asking students, faculty, and staff to follow these public health guidelines.
Currently, we are STRONGLY ENCOURAGING students, staff, and faculty to wear face coverings while indoors to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 on our campus. We understand that this can be a hard transition, but our goal is to keep campus healthy, open, and thriving.
As a reminder testing is available for students, faculty, and staff at Boothroyd Hall during the hours of Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.- 5 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday, 12 p.m. – 4 p.m. Other local testing options include pharmacies, urgent care facilities, and the Cayuga Health System’s testing site at The Shops at Ithaca Mall. Please be honest and mindful of your personal health if you don’t feel well, keep your distance from others, wear a face covering, and seek out testing or medical guidance as soon as possible.
Anyone can direct questions about testing options to caremanager@ithaca.edu.
Being responsible in our actions and interactions, both on and off campus, will be essential in our efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 as we continue the semester.
At this time, we are not changing our Green: Lower Risk operating status. Ithaca College will continue to monitor this developing COVID-19 situation and will provide timely updates to the campus community as needed. Thank you for your understanding and your cooperation. For more information, please visit our new public health website.
Sincerely,
Samm Swarts
Assistant Director, Emergency Preparedness and Response