Chancellor Jim Malatras met last week with SUNY New Paltz President Donald P. Christian, Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan and New Paltz students during the final days of SUNY’s mandatory exit testing. SUNY New Paltz completed its testing of more than 3500 students on November 23.
SUNY New Paltz reported Monday that 15 of its students have tested positive for Covid-19 during the program. Twelve of these students live off campus and three live on campus. Fourteen are isolating off campus and one is isolating on campus. Thirteen of these students were tested on campus. The other two students submitted test results from off-campus facilities.
The college’s on-campus test positivity rate for the fall 2020 semester stands at 0.26%. The college has performed 10,225 on-campus Covid-19 tests to date since the semester began.
A total of 46 students and six employees in the on-campus population have had confirmed or presumed positive cases of Covid-19 since the beginning of the fall 2020 semester. Twenty-two cases are currently classified as active. Ten students are currently in quarantine on campus and one is in isolation on campus. Twelve of these students live off campus, and three live on campus. Fourteen are isolating off campus, and one is isolating on campus.
During the visit, Malatras reviewed testing results to date for the SUNY New Paltz campus, as well as campus and local public health coordination to monitor students testing positive and isolating either on campus or at home. “Today’s visit with students in person, as well as calls with students across SUNY campuses, helps me make sure their needs are being met and that they feel confident about our reopening for the spring semester,” he said.
Earlier this month, Malatras announced guidance for the spring semester college reopening. The plan mandates quarantine and testing for all returning students, cancels spring break, requires face coverings in classrooms at all times and pushes the start of in-person instruction to February 1. These measures — combined with testing, transparency and enforcement policies already in place across SUNY — set a nationwide standard for detecting and managing Covid-19 throughout the winter and spring terms.
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