As the spring 2021 semester gets underway, Alfred State
College is joining with its fellow SUNY institutions by increasing the COVID-19
testing rate on campus so that 100 percent of students, faculty, and staff are
tested each week.
This increase is a marked change from the fall 2020 testing
rate, in which 20 percent of the campus population was tested each week. Vice
President for Student Affairs Dr. Gregory Sammons noted the change is SUNY-wide
and that it will ensure that Alfred State can fulfill its educational mission
for the entire spring semester.
“The change will allow the college to identify any
infections more quickly and prevent undetected pockets of spread,” Sammons
said.
While the rate of testing has increased, the method will
remain the same, as Alfred State will continue to utilize saliva-based pool
testing. However, due to the massive increase in personal testing, the college
will discontinue wastewater testing, which, Sammons noted, “serves as a sort of
smoke detector to detect the presence of COVID-19 in large populations.”
Alfred State’s spring 2021 semester kicked off on Monday,
Jan. 25, with students quarantining on campus and learning remotely throughout
the entire week. In-person instruction will resume on Monday, Feb. 1.
