ALISA OPPENHEIMER
News Editor
With six weeks left until the end of our semester, hopes in Fredonia are high that we will finish strong without having to switch to fully remote learning.
In the past two weeks, our campus has had great outcomes in results of the random pool testing.
Just last week of Oct. 4-10, 357 students were randomly selected for pool testing.
Out of those 357, there were zero positive COVID test results.
In trying to minimize the spread of COVID on our campus as much as possible, in the following weeks Fredonia will increase the number of people randomly selected to at least 750 people per week.
Although this news brings optimism, the virus is still a threat.
RELATED: “What’s pool testing really like?”
While the Fredonia community has seen progress in the past two weeks, two other SUNY schools have paused all in-person learning due to high numbers of positive COVID cases.
One of these schools is SUNY Cortland.
At the end of week one in the two-week monitoring period, 22 new positive cases were recorded on Cortland’s COVID-19 dashboard.
This brought their total number of positive cases in that two-week period to 58.
In order to have maintained an in-person learning system, the school would’ve had to have under 42 cases before the end of that two-week period on Oct. 9.
By Monday Oct. 5, at 101 total positive cases, Cortland announced a pause on all in-person learning under guidance of the New York State Department of Health.
With this, our campus-community should take into consideration how quickly things can change for us.
In his latest Thursday update on Oct. 8, President Kolison discussed his enthusiasm, but also his hesitations.
“With about six weeks to go before in-person instruction concludes this semester, I am cautiously optimistic that, with our continued vigilance, we will be able to hold the line against COVID-19, keep the campus safe, and remain open,” said Kolison.
“Am I nervous about this? Let me admit that I am. I know that it does not take much for the virus to spread and threaten the lives of a large group of people. I think about this every day,” he continued.
“We must remain vigilant to keep everyone safe and stay open.”
In maintaining guidelines, it has also been announced that all on-campus events for Fredonia’s 2020 Family Weekend have been cancelled.
In his announcement Kolison stated: “The health and safety of the entire Fredonia family is the university’s top priority, so out of an abundance of caution, we will not be bringing families to campus this fall.”
“We know this is disappointing news — especially to those of you who had planned to join us for an event-filled weekend,” he said.
In place of this, some groups like Campus Life and Spectrum Entertainment are in the process of organizing various virtual events for that weekend.
Though it may not feel the same, it’s important we abide by the COVID guidelines if we want the rest of our semester to remain in-person.
For more information and updates on COVID-19 regarding our campus, students can utilize the following resources: