Marist campus 'on pause' with 128 active COVID cases; basketball NCAA tourney game on

With at least 128 active COVID-19 cases, Marist College partially shut down its campus Wednesday, banning in-person gatherings outside of classroom activities, including its Division I athletics.

But that will not impact the women’s basketball team’s upcoming NCAA tournament game. The team flew to Texas on Tuesday for its Monday contest in San Antonio against Louisville, and is under NCAA tournament testing guidelines.

The school announced the voluntary "pause,” effective at 2 p.m. Wednesday through 2 p.m. on March 23, on the same day it instituted a temporary quarantine of Marian and Champagnat halls, both freshman dorms. Those students were ordered to attend classes virtually and stay in their rooms for all activities except picking up food, or if there is a health or safety reason for leaving.

A school spokesperson declined to answer how the outbreak may have started or what contributed to the spread, saying all information regarding the outbreak was included in the official releases.

The school initially alerted students to restrictions on Monday, citing a rising number of cases.

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In-person classes for Marist’s spring semester did not begin until March 1, with a phased move-in beginning Feb. 15. The late start followed a fall semester in which the campus was shut down voluntarily multiple times due to COVID outbreaks. In November the school dealt with an outbreak of more than 100 confirmed cases, but officials say it was contained to the college community and did not rise to meeting the level of state-mandated restrictions.

As of Wednesday, the school had 128 active cases; 75 classified as at home or off-campus, and 53 on campus in isolated spaces, according to the school's online dashboard. The school for the semester has recorded 132 total cases, including three employees, out of 3,271 tests conducted.

All students were required to submit a negative PCR test to the school before arriving on campus and then be tested again in their first week; of those 5,398 tests conducted on campus, 21 were positive.

Students during the pause are allowed to attend in-person classes, walk outside with their roommates or pod, and use the James J. McCann Recreation Center fitness facility on a reservation system; they are not allowed to have group gatherings outside their room or household, use the dining hall, have visitors or travel off campus. Anyone who does leave campus will need to submit a negative test before they can return.

The school noted surveillance testing will continue during the pause.

As of Monday, the most recent day for which Dutchess County shared data on its online dashboard, there were 1,127 active COVID-19 cases in the county, with 50 residents hospitalized. The county's seven-day rolling average infection rate was at 4.71%, up from 3.9% on March 7.

Red Foxes under NCAA regulations

Meanwhile, the Red Foxes women's basketball team is in Texas, a state in which its governor lifted pandemic restrictions and a mask mandate earlier this month. 

The team was required to submit seven consecutive days of negative tests before traveling to Texas, and all teams were required to take charter planes to limit exposure. The NCAA then was planning to conduct daily testing. Teams were ordered to maintain in their groups, separated from other teams. Players are permitted to eat in their hotel rooms or in team-designated gathering rooms.

Marist, one of four No. 15 seeds in the 64-team tournament, is facing Louisville, a No. 2 seed, in the first round at 8 p.m. Monday at the Alamodome. The game is scheduled to be televised on ESPN.