Statue of Ezra Cornell wearing a mask on Cornell University campus
In an email to the Cornell community, university president Martha Pollack announced that the semester will begin with “two weeks of virtual instruction through Feb. 4.”
The announcement comes as New York State continues to see a surge in COVID-19 cases and an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations. It also comes after Cornell University officially mandated the COVID-19 vaccine booster shots, with the possibility of a medical exemption.
In addition to the two weeks of virtual instruction, the university will be providing an “expanded move-in period” to assist with testing capacity and allow students to isolate if they test positive for COVID-19. The university will also be implementing “pre-departure testing and enhanced arrival testing,” as the campus starts the semester off in COVID-19 Alert Level Yellow (a downgrade from its previous Code Red status).
Students who test positive over break will be asked to self-report their case on the Daily Check website, according to the announcement. Those who contracted COVID-19 will be exempted from surveillance testing for 90-days. All students, regardless of geographic location, must upload test results to the Daily Check website before returning to campus.
Student life and activities will be limited by the university until in-person instruction begins. In addition to its booster mandate, the university will require students to wear KN-95 or N-95 masks, as others are recommending.
These restrictions come despite the fact that 97% of the on-campus population is fully vaccinated, and no serious cases of COVID-19 have been reported on campus.
Samuel Kim and Cullen O’Hara contributed to this report.
