A Health Services COVID-19 update for September 12

The following message was sent to the Saint Rose community by Mark Parisi, director of counseling and health services, on September 12.

Dear Students, Employees, and Saint Rose Families,

Today, September 12, the College was notified that a residential student (without a meal plan) had tested positive for COVID-19 after seeking medical care for symptoms. This is the College’s first student case. That student was isolated as the College was notified of the positive test result. This student did not violate any of the College’s COVID-19 policies.

Due to state and federal privacy laws, we do not disclose details about members of our community who test positive for COVID-19.

We have consulted with the New York State Department of Health on contact tracing and have identified individuals who had contact with the COVID-19 positive individual. Some of these individuals do not meet the CDC criteria for being at higher risk of exposure, which is “an individual who has had contact of within 6 feet of an individual for more than 15 minutes.” As our classrooms are socially distanced and masks are worn, having a COVID-19 positive case in a class does not mean the class is at risk. But out of an abundance of caution, we have asked two employees and 13 students to quarantine for 14 days from the last point of contact. We are also requiring those quarantined individuals to be tested.

We will not send an individual message to the College community with every positive test result, but we are sharing this one as it is our first student case. Our COVID-19 dashboard is updated each Friday with the weekly data, and the first of my weekly COVID-19 updates was sent to students and employees yesterday, September 11.

Anyone who experiences symptoms of COVID-19 should not come to campus or attend classes and should get tested. Students seeking testing can call Health Services at 518.454.5244 or email healthservices@strose.edu. Employees are encouraged to contact their health provider or choose from one of the testing sites identified in the employee section of the restart plan.

Sincerely,

Mark Parisi
Director of Counseling and Health Services