In a letter to students today, SUNY New Paltz president Donald Christian reported that two additional on-campus resident students have tested positive for COVID-19. These are the second and third SUNY New Paltz students to have tested positive since the first day of classes for the fall 2020 semester.
Both of these students were known close contacts of the student whose positive test was reported on August 27. That student, the first to test positive, had participated in two outdoor, off-campus pick-up basketball games on Monday, August 24 at 6 a.m., and Wednesday, August 26, at 7 a.m., in Tony Williams Park in Highland. The student was not wearing a mask during the games, which is allowed by New York State sports and recreation guidelines (but not by SUNY New Paltz standards).
The 12 students who were involved in those games have all been tested and have been in quarantine. Christian said the matter is under investigation. The Student Health Service will monitor these students’ health, and they will remain in quarantine until cleared by Student Health Service (generally 14 days post-exposure or ten days from onset of symptoms, per CDC guidelines).
According to the college’s testing and quarantine procedure for fall 2020, contact tracers have already been deployed to interview the students about where they have been and with whom they have been in contact.
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