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Students returning to Syracuse University from coronavirus hotspots will be unable to quarantine in university housing and must pay for quarantine accommodations, university officials announced Monday.

First-year and incoming transfer students living on campus can quarantine in their dorm, said Mike Haynie, vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation, and Amanda Nicholson, interim deputy senior vice president of enrollment and the student experience, in a campus-wide email. 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a travel advisory June 25 requiring individuals traveling to New York, New Jersey or Connecticut from 22 states with high COVID-19 infection rates to self-quarantine for 14 days. Cuomo’s travel restrictions impact about 2,000 SU students, Haynie and Nicholson said.

SU is working with local hotels to provide discounted rates to returning students whom the governor’s advisory has impacted, Haynie and Nicholson said. Students from impacted states who will live on campus must complete their two-week quarantine before their assigned move-in date. 

“Given these incredibly difficult circumstances, Syracuse University is prepared to support and assist students impacted by the travel advisory to establish self-quarantine accommodations,” Haynie and Nicholson said in the email.

The university plans to send more information regarding housing assignments on Friday. While Haynie and Nicholson said SU will not alter roommate assignments, whether students’ rooms will change is unclear. 

Students allowed to quarantine in university housing will receive instructions on how to communicate their intent to do so with the university, Haynie and Nicholson said. These students must plan on arriving at SU on Aug. 2 to complete the 14-day quarantine before the first scheduled move-in date on Aug. 17, they said. 

Students from hotspot states living off-campus must plan to finish their self-quarantine prior to the start of classes on Aug. 24. 

All students from hotspot states will need to submit evidence that they completed their quarantine before Aug. 24, regardless of where they did so, Haynie and Nicholson said. SU did not specify what documentation students will need to submit.

Haynie and Nicholson recommended that students self-quarantine in New York state, though students may quarantine in any state that is not included in Cuomo’s travel restrictions. Students who quarantine in states not included in the governor’s advisory may need to provide evidence of their quarantine to New York state officials, they said.

SU had previously announced that students living on-campus could register for a move-in slot beginning July 20. The university postponed those plans in a message posted to the MySlice housing portal earlier Monday.

The university will soon follow-up with students whom the restrictions have impacted, Haynie and Nicholson said.

“This is a difficult time for everyone in our community and we are working to do everything within our power to support all our students, while balancing strict compliance with the quarantine requirement and mitigating the burden on our students and their families,” they said. 

Published on July 20, 2020 at 6:32 pm

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