Follow-up to similar questions asked at Aug. 18 Cornell/Ithaca College/TC3 Town Hall

Thanks to many of you who joined the last week’s town hall involving Tompkins Cortland Community College, Ithaca College and Cornell University, recording of that session here.

Common questions and comments for Cornell touched on testing, on-and-off-campus student behavior, what it would take for the University to go all virtual, protocols surrounding student move-in, and the continual need for transparency. 

Key answers and resources tied to these questions:

* Here’s the link to a new publicly accessible resource that provides a snapshot of Cornell’s testing results. It includes a color-coded alert system for monitoring community infection rates and other key public health indicators https://covid.cornell.edu/testing/dashboard/ The dashboard will be updated daily with information on the number of tests performed and number of infections over the past seven days and cumulatively; availability of quarantine and isolation space; local health system capacity; and the inventory of supplies needed to conduct surveillance testing.  As always, countywide testing news and data will be available at Tompkins County Department of Health’s website.
Finally, learn more about the Cornell dashboard and alert system in the Cornell Chronicle. 

* Related, a summary sent  to Assemblywoman Lifton earlier this month touching on off-campus models and projections.

* Please see here about more background on surveillance testing set to begin next week.

* A snapshot on public health and testing to date. Excerpt: In partnership with Cayuga Health System and the Tompkins County Health Department, Cornell has tested nearly 10,000 students, faculty and staff to date, yielding nine positive cases – a prevalence of less than 0.1%. Those tests included 3,300 undergraduates and more than 4,500 graduate and professional students, who accounted for eight of the positives – only two involving students from states on New York’s travel advisory list. The student infection rate so far of 1 in 1,000, or 0.1%, is an order of magnitude less than what Cornell has prepared for.

* The student behavioral compact will provide both structure and potential repercussions for those who don’t abide by it. The need for compliance will be further enhanced by student peer-to-peer initiatives, staff-led monitoring programs, and a community “tip line.” 

Members of the Cornell and Ithaca communities may go here to report observations of students or employees acting in unsafe ways (as related to COVID-19). Reports will be reviewed by the Cornell Compact Compliance Team to assess the appropriate intervention and referrals.  

Background on the Student Behavioral Compact and the Cornell Compact Compliance Team :

https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2020/08/cornell-announces-student-behavioral-compact

https://covid.cornell.edu/_assets/files/behavioral-compact.pdf

* About move-in: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2020/08/planned-safety-mind-cornell-move-days-begin

Finally, https://covid.cornell.edu is updated on a daily basis. Please bookmark and access regularly if possible.

Questions? Send to <community_relations@cornell.edu>