[Teaching-Faculty] Sunday update on faculty COVID questions

[Office of the Provost/VPAA]

Hello Colleagues,

I hope this weekend has been a good one for you.  Two new questions have
come to me:

*Question:* Can an instructor inform the class that there is a positive
case in the class (without revealing a student's identity)?

*Answer:* This is not recommended because it will inevitably cause students
to wonder who the infected student *is* and likely increase anxiety in the
classroom.  If every member of the class is present on a given day except
for one, the identity of the student who tested positive will become
obvious.

*Question:* How is contact tracing handled if the student tests positive in
a different county, not Clinton?

*Answer:*  There is a hand-off from one county to another for purposes of
quarantine or isolation depending upon where the person will be
convalescing.  However, the contact tracing can be done either by the
county who received the positive test, or handed off to the state for
remote contact tracing.   In cases where the contact tracers know the
person is a student, the school is contacted by the health dept to assist
with contact tracing information (classes, attendance, vax status etc.)
Clinton County Health Department asks us to assist in this manner
frequently.

An additional concern came in about students who are not properly
masking--masks falling below the nose.  Additional masks have been placed
around campus--in the health center, in Angell Center, in Feinberg Library,
if a student needs to pick up a new mask.  (I've noticed that some of them
lose their elasticity after repeated use.)  The only additional assurance I
can share with you is that it is a violation of our campus policy *not* to
properly mask when indoors.  Faculty can refer a student's name to Student
Conduct if the student is not properly masking and is non-responsive to
requests to properly mask.  And while masking is absolutely important and
recommended behavior while indoors for all of us, it might also be
reassuring to know that our Health Center and Emergency Response Team
report consistently that during the last academic year, when we had no
approved vaccinations for most of the year, COVID was not spread in the
classroom.  It was spread *outside* of the classroom when individuals were
not masked and not socially distanced.

You should also see student photos fully loaded into Banner now.  There was
a glitch between the company that handles the pictures and SUNY IT that is
now resolved.  Apologies that this matter took some time to resolve.

Wishing you all a good week to come,

Anne
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