|
|
Revised Spring '22 Guidance & Details on State Requirements
| |
| As mentioned last week, New York State and SUNY have released new COVID-related requirements for the Spring 2022 semester. This email provides details and clarification on what is required of students at this time. Please read in full and reach out to CRT@oneonta.edu with any questions.
Summary of what’s new:
- Booster requirement and deadlines.
- Pre-arrival tests still required – if using at-home test, results must be submitted no more than 48 hours prior to arrival.
- Expanded acceptable at-home test brands.
- What to do if you tested positive over break but no longer have the test result.
- Arrival check-in process.
- Update on new public testing site.
| |
| Vaccine & Booster:
Reminder: All students accessing any campus facilities (living on campus, taking in-person classes, accessing athletic or dining venues, etc.) must be vaccinated against COVID-19. Vaccine exemptions approved in the fall carry over to the spring.
Student Booster Mandate: On Dec. 31, 2021, Gov. Hochul announced a requirement for fully vaccinated SUNY students who are accessing campus facilities to receive a COVID vaccine booster as soon as they are eligible. A new copy of the student's CDC vaccination card showing the date booster was received and booster type must be uploaded to the student health portal according to the timelines below:
- Students who are eligible on or before Jan. 15, 2022, must receive a booster and submit proof by 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 25, 2022.
- Students who become eligible for a booster Jan. 16 or after have 21 days from their date of eligibility to receive a booster and submit proof.
- Students who are eligible for a booster but have recently recovered from COVID will have 30 days from the end of their isolation period to receive a booster and upload proof.
- Exemptions from the booster requirement for returning students will be extremely limited. The only exceptions that will be considered are circumstances where students have a significant medical consideration and can provide a signed letter of attestation from a primary care provider or medical doctor indicating why the student cannot receive a booster dose. Letters of medical attestation must be uploaded to the student health portal for review by Jan. 21, 2022. Students will be notified of approval or denial of request.
Clinics offering booster doses can be found on the CDC’s Vaccine Finder. The college is working on bringing booster clinics to campus and will communicate if/when any are scheduled.
Any student who does not receive a booster within the appropriate timeline above will be dropped from their classes.
| |
|
Pre-Arrival Screening:
All students must complete the Spring 2022 pre-arrival screening and indicate if they will be accessing campus (taking in-person classes, living on campus, using the library or dining venues, etc.) OR if they are enrolled in a fully remote/online schedule for the semester and won’t be accessing campus, and then follow the next steps accordingly. Successful completion of the pre-arrival screening (resulting in a green checkmark in the screening tool) is required for all.
1. Any student who will be accessing campus in any way during the spring semester is required to test for COVID prior to the date of their arrival on campus according to the timelines below, OR provide proof they have tested positive in the past 90 days and have completed/will complete isolation prior to arrival.
Acceptable Tests:
- Tests administered at a clinic by a medical provider are preferred (PCR or rapid) and can be taken up to five days prior to arrival.
- Clinically administered test results must include student’s name, date of birth, date test was administered, and result.
- At-home/over-the-counter tests are acceptable but can only be taken within 48 hours of arrival. At-home test brands accepted for re-entry testing are BinaxNow, FlowFlex, and QuickVue. Other brands are being researched and this list may be expanded. Please continue to check the COVID-19 webpage for any updates.
- Students taking an at-home test must take a photo with all of the following in the same frame: the test kit showing the result, a government-issued ID, and an indicator of the date test was administered. The date the test was administered can be indicated by using a digital time stamp on the photo or by writing the date and time the test was administered on the test kit or a piece of paper and including it in the photo.
Procedure:
- If the pre-arrival test is negative, students must upload a copy of the negative test result to the pre-arrival screening tool and are able to return as planned.
- If the pre-arrival test is positive, students must isolate at home and cannot return to campus until their isolation period has ended.
- Students in this situation must upload the positive test result to the pre-arrival screening tool, indicate a new arrival date that is after their isolation period, and notify their instructors for any classes/labs that will be missed.
- If a student has tested positive within the past 90 days and is/will be out of isolation prior to arrival, they do not have to provide proof of a negative test, but must upload a copy of their positive test result showing the date the positive result was received to the pre-arrival screening tool within five days prior to their arrival.
- Students who tested positive within the past 90 days but no longer have the test result must provide proof of a negative test using a rapid test following the directions above. (If a PCR test is used, it may produce a false-positive.) Students in this situation will be included in regular surveillance testing as we cannot verify the self-reported positive test. If the re-entry rapid test returns a positive result, students must complete another isolation period prior to returning to campus.
2. Students who have a fully-remote/online course schedule and do not plan to use any college-owned facilities can submit an attestation through the pre-arrival screening tool to be excused from the testing and vaccine requirements.
| |
|
Move-in/Check-in Procedures for Returning Students:
Returning students living on campus can return Jan. 23 – 25 and must check in at the front desk of their residence hall to show their green checkmark from completing the pre-arrival screening. Front desk hours for all residence halls are as follows:
- Sunday, Jan 23, 10 a.m. – 11 p.m.
- Monday, Jan. 24, 9 a.m. – 11 p.m.
- Tuesday, Jan. 25, 9 a.m. – 11 p.m.
Returning students living off campus must complete the pre-arrival screening within five days prior to using any campus facilities (maximum deadline of 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 25) or they will be dropped from classes.
| |
|
Update on Public Testing Site:
The public COVID testing site hosted in the Emergency Services Building is now open Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays from 8:30 a.m. – noon by appointment only. This site is open to anyone in the local area who is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 and is scheduled to operate through the end of February. Students experiencing symptoms should contact the Health Center for advice on where to get a test before going directly to the new testing site. Read an article with more information about the site.
| |
|
|
|
|
