Photo by Makenna Hall/The Quill
By Victoria Durgin, Editor in Chief
The largest spike in COVID-19 cases at Susquehanna is likely the result of off-campus activity, according to Vice President for Student Life Susan Lantz.
The spike, which reached 48 active cases by Nov. 16, caused the quarantining of six residence halls on campus and was also factored into the decision to move classes to a fully remote schedule, nearly two weeks earlier than planned.
“Contact-tracing efforts indicate off-campus Halloween parties as a likely starting point for this outbreak,” Lantz said.
Those tracing efforts include the work of 14 student contact tracers trained by the university to assist in finding close contacts when a person is diagnosed with COVID-19.
The efforts of those tracers, coupled with wastewater testing and random COVID-19 testing for students and staff, detected the outbreak on campus in the span of a week. The university dashboard reports that 46 of the 48 cases were diagnosed between Nov. 6 and Nov. 12.
The 48-case spike is the largest seen on campus by a long shot. The next-highest amount of active cases present at one time was the seven cases found in Scholar’s House when that residence hall was quarantined between Oct. 15 and Oct. 29.
According to data provided on the university’s COVID-19 dashboard, the current active cases represent 4.9 percent of the total Susquehanna population.
In comparison, the proportion of active cases in Snyder County is currently at 9.4 percent. Statewide, the proportion sits at 9.6 percent, and cases continue to rise in nearly every state nationwide.
At Susquehanna, concerns over active cases reached a heightened level when cases jumped from the nine reported on Nov. 9 to 21 cases on Nov. 10. That same night, at 10:34 p.m., university President Jonathan Green announced via email that all classes would be fully remote for the remainder of the semester. Additionally, the email also stated all dining locations would serve only to-go meals and the Blough-Weis Library and Garrett Sports Complex were closed to all students, faculty and staff with the exception of meal service at Bento Sushi in Garrett.
Prior to the Nov. 10 email from Green, classes were scheduled to remain in-person until Nov. 20, at which time on-campus students would return home for Thanksgiving break. Then, all students would take classes remotely until finals were finished on Dec. 11. Now, students will complete eight days of remote classes before Thanksgiving break in addition to the already planned classes and finals after the break.
While this announcement came soon after the dashboard was updated to reflect the jump in cases, Lantz said the decision to move remote was made with more than just Susquehanna’s case count in mind.
“We chose to transition to remote learning due to a recent rise in COVID-19 cases in the region, a rise in cases among our students on campus, and out of abundance of caution,” Lantz said.
Lantz also said that while tracing efforts point to off-campus partying, she is still happy with the semester as a whole.
“I don’t think blame is productive in the situation we’re in now. Although we are disappointed not to have made it through the entire semester with in-person classes, we all did a great job of adhering to safety protocols, which is why we were as successful as we were this semester. And that success can be attributed to everyone on campus, from our cleaning and facilities staff to our food service employees and faculty, staff and students,” Lantz said.
The spike in cases did not force a shutdown of all residence halls on campus. Students were given the opportunity to move out earlier than Nov. 20 if they wanted to, but students will be allowed to remain in their halls until Nov. 20 as originally planned.
Students who have tested positive for COVID-19 will be allowed to remain on campus for the duration of their required isolation period if they and their family choose to do so, according to Lantz.