BREAKING: Code Big Red

This morning, students received a CornellALERT announcing that the Ithaca campus has moved into a COVID-19 “code red.”

The announcement comes as the Tompkins County Health Department revealed the detection of two identified cases of the Omicron variant last week and 508 new cases of COVID-19 were detected this weekend, according to Cornell University’s COVID-19 dashboard.

In a subsequent email, university president Martha Pollack said that libraries would be closed to students, as well as fitness centers and gyms. Additionally, the December 18 recognition for December graduates was cancelled.

Pollack also announced that, “All final exams will move to an online format as of noon, Tuesday, December 14.” The Cornell administration had promised to hold final exams in-person, asserting that there was “no evidence of classroom virus transmission.”

In her written statement, Pollack conceded that preliminary evidence suggests that the new omicron variant “generally causes milder cases, particularly among vaccinated individuals.” However, she reiterated that her administration will be taking the outbreak seriously.

“It is obviously extremely dispiriting to have to take these steps,” Pollack acknowledged, “However, since the start of the pandemic, our commitment has been to follow the science and do all we can to protect the health of our faculty, staff, and students.” She argued that even if the new variant causes less severe illness, the exponentially greater number of cases would result in similar if not larger rates of severe illness, a conclusion so far unsupported by Cornell’s numbers.

The university encouraged students leaving Ithaca for winter break who did not test negative in the past 48 hours to “get a supplemental test as soon as possible.” Officials also implored students to “avoid nonessential contact with others and increase their vigilance with mask-wearing, distancing, and hand washing.” This despite the fact that the campus has a 97% vaccination rate.