SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras Visits Campus To Announce That Campuses Have Finished Mandatory Testing Before Thanksgiving

SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras visited the SUNY Schenectady campus today, as he announced that SUNY campuses have finished mandatory testing of students on campus.

State University of New York News Release
Days before Thanksgiving, State University of New York Chancellor Jim Malatras announced that SUNY campuses have finished mandatory testing of students on campus with 152,788 tests conducted with a positivity rate of 0.63 percent between November 9 and November 23. SUNY Upstate Medical University will process the remaining tests this week. Campuses are working in close coordination with local public health officials to monitor students testing positive and isolating. Currently 880 students are in isolation or quarantine on campus.

Chancellor Malatras made the announcement from SUNY Schenectady, as the community college is one of the last campuses to complete its testing this close to Thanksgiving, with one positive case out of 248 for the 14-day window before the holiday. Chancellor Malatras praised SUNY students for their efforts to keep COVID rates low during the fall semester and urged them all to stay diligent with social distancing and wearing masks.

“Over just a two-week window, SUNY colleges and universities rose to this extraordinary challenge and completed the COVID exit testing—an enormous, unprecedented effort that will prevent the spread of the virus over the Thanksgiving holiday,” said Chancellor Jim Malatras. “Our 0.63 percent exit testing positivity rate once again reinforces that even as COVID-19 surges elsewhere, our students are predominantly doing the right thing: social distancing, wearing masks, and avoiding large gatherings. This has been a tremendous team effort. Campuses are working in tandem with their local health departments to ensure that COVID positive students are quarantining safely either on campus, off campus, or at home. For those students who are unable to isolate or quarantine at home and remain on campus, my team and I at SUNY system and campus leadership will do everything in our power to make them feel at home over the holiday. We are one SUNY family, and we are all in this together. We will continue to keep each other safe and finish the fall semester strong.”

SUNY campuses, as required by Chancellor Malatras as part of the Thanksgiving exit testing, will provide housing, meals and other comforts for all students on campus. Students on campus will also continue to participate in regular coronavirus testing along with faculty and staff.

“The safety of our students and College community is our top priority at SUNY Schenectady, and this extends to doing all we can to ensure that everyone has a safe Thanksgiving,” said Dr. Steady Moono, SUNY Schenectady President. “We thank Chancellor Malatras for his leadership regarding testing and safety protocols, and for all of the support he has provided, as we welcome him to campus today.”

SUNY’s colleges and universities have been testing regularly throughout the fall semester, conducting 535,439 tests to date with a positive rate of 0.52 percent.