UPDATED: Jan. 14, 2022 at 5:40 p.m.

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Syracuse University Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation Mike Haynie outlined the testing procedures for students returning from winter break in a campus-wide email Wednesday.

Students are required to receive a negative PCR test 72 hours prior to arriving in the Syracuse area or a negative at-home or antigen test immediately before traveling to Syracuse.

If a student tests positive for COVID-19, the test result must be submitted to the Patient Portal and the student will not be permitted to travel to campus until their symptoms have subsided and the quarantine period has been completed.

International students can use testing needed to travel into the U.S. to fulfill their requirement, SU Vice President and Dean of Students Rob Hradsky wrote in another campus-wide email on Friday. To be eligible, the student must take their test within three days of arriving in the U.S. If the student takes the test outside of this window or the student is not traveling directly to Syracuse once in the U.S., the student must fulfill their pre-arrival testing requirement with an additional test.

Students who tested positive within 90 days of the pre-arrival testing period are exempt from pre-arrival testing but must submit evidence of a positive test to the Barnes Center at The Arch prior to arriving on campus.

Upon arriving in Syracuse, all students are required to participate in arrival testing regardless of their housing location. Main Campus residents will check-in at the Ensley Athletic Center from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Jan. 21 through Jan. 23. Students unable to check-in at the athletic center at these times can go directly to their residence halls to verify their check-in requirements, Hradsky said. Check-in for South Campus residents and those living off-campus will be located at the Carrier Dome and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Jan. 17 through Jan. 25.

Haynie also said that the surveillance testing program for fully vaccinated individuals will expand the number of students, faculty and staff required to test each week amid the surge in cases due to the omicron variant. People who are not fully vaccinated, including those who are vaccine-exempt or those who have not received their booster shot, must get tested once a week.

On-demand PCR tests can now be considered confirmatory for ordering an individual to isolate following a positive test, Haynie said. Tests are available for students, faculty, staff and families of employees at Kimmel Dining Hall through Jan. 14 and at the Stadium Testing Center beginning Jan. 16.

SU will continue to require masking indoors and outdoors while in the presence of others at least while the New York state mask mandate is in place, though possibly longer, and the university highly encourages the use of double-masking or KN95 masks due to the more infectious omicron variant.

The email also included updated quarantine procedures that align with the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines as well. People who test positive for COVID-19 now only have to isolate for five days, though symptomatic people may have to isolate for longer.

Additionally, Skyhall I and II have been converted from single to double occupancy per room for on-campus isolation housing. Double occupancy will only be used if all single-occupancy spaces are filled, he said.

Haynie also included a reminder that all SU students, faculty and staff should have received both a COVID-19 booster shot and flu vaccine before returning to campus.

Students living on Main Campus must have a COVID-19 booster shot or exemption prior to arriving at SU, Hradsky said. They must also have had their flu shot by this time. Students living on South Campus and off-campus must have their COVID-19 booster and flu shot by Jan. 24.

Students can upload information regarding their flu and COVID-19 vaccination status on SU’s Patient Portal, Hradsky said.

This post has been updated with additional reporting.

CLARIFICATION: A previous version of this story stated that students must receive a negative PCR test 72 hours prior to arriving on campus. PCR tests must be taken within the 72 hours prior to arriving on campus.

Published on January 12, 2022 at 1:48 pm

Contact Kyle: [email protected] | @Kyle_Chouinard