Colleges will be required to move all classes online if there are 100 cases on campus or if 5% of the school tests positive, Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday.
“We’ve seen troubling reports of students congregating on college campuses, so we are setting a threshold that says if colleges have 100 cases or if the number of cases equal 5 percent of their population or more, they must go to remote learning for two weeks, at which time we will reassess the situation,” Cuomo said in a press release. (RELATED: More Than 20,000 Coronavirus Cases Have Been Counted At Colleges Since Late July: Report)
As college students return to campus, schools must be prepared for all possibilities.
If a college experiences 100 COVID cases or an outbreak equal to 5% of its population (whichever is less)—that college MUST go to remote learning for 2 weeks while the situation is evaluated.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) August 27, 2020
“We should anticipate clusters and that’s what we’re seeing. Be prepared for it, get ahead of it,” Cuomo continued.
On-campus activities would be limited and athletic and extracurricular activities would be suspended during the two-week time period, the press release stated.
If the local health department says the virus is not being quelled after the two weeks, either virtual instruction may continue or other restrictions will be established. Dining halls would be accessed through take-out during the two-week period, according to the press release.
If the college has difficulty with isolating or contact tracing when a cluster emerges on a specific part of campus, “the college must return to 100 percent distance learning with limited on-campus activity,” even if there aren’t either 100 cases or 5% of the population doesn’t have the virus, according to the press release. On-campus activities could also be suspended if the clusters are not being controlled even if the standard isn’t met.
Cuomo’s announcement applies to both public and private universities and colleges, New York State Department of Health spokesman Jonah Bruno told the Daily Caller News Foundation. The new restrictions come after reports of students attending large gatherings and after colleges in other states have seen outbreaks after returning to in-person classes, according to the press release.
Colleges and universities across the U.S. have taken measures to prevent spreading the coronavirus while returning to in-person classes. The University of Notre Dame implemented a system that allows students, faculty and staff to report individuals who break COVID-19 regulations, according to a university announcement.
Gov. Cuomo’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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