Cornell University has moved to an “Alert Level Red” due to what school officials are describing as a “continued, rapid spread of COVID-19 among our student population.” The new restrictions include moving all finals online.
The alert was issued Tuesday afternoon by the university’s president, Martha Pollack, who said the presence of the omicron variant, first detected over the weekend on the campus, is gaining ground.
“Just last evening, our COVID-19 testing lab team identified evidence of the highly contagious omicron variant in a significant number of Monday’s positive student samples,” she said.
“I want to make clear that our evidence of omicron is preliminary,” Pollack said in the statement. “PCR testing has identified its hallmark (the so-called S-gene dropout) in a substantial number of virus samples. While we must await confirmatory sequencing information to be sure that the source is omicron, we are proceeding as if it is.”
Students will complete their final exams virtually, according to the new guidance. The December 18 ceremony recognizing this year’s winter graduates has been canceled, along with sporting events, social gatherings involving undergraduates and all university sponsored events.
Visitors are not allowed on campus, except to pick up students for break, according to the new rules, and students who have not produced negative COVID-19 tests withing the past 48 hours are “highly encouraged” by the university to not return home for the holidays and stay in their personal residences in Ithaca until they have done so.
“It is obviously extremely dispiriting to have to take these steps. 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,” said Pollack.
