UB statement on state’s decision to revise pause guidelines for SUNY campuses

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The University at Buffalo supports the revised guidance on when colleges and universities will be required to pause in-person instruction, as announced today by New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo.

Colleges and universities testing at least 25% of their total on-campus students, faculty and staff weekly – which UB is doing – will not be required to go on pause unless their positivity rate exceeds 5% during a rolling 14-day period, according to the state’s revised guidance. Previously, SUNY campuses that reached 100 or more positive COVID-19 cases within a designated two-week period had to pause in-person instruction and activities for two weeks.

In accordance with SUNY requirements for the spring semester, UB has been conducting weekly COVID-19 surveillance testing on all students, faculty and staff who have a regular presence on campus this spring.

Members of the university community continue to be vigilant in adhering to UB’s health and safety guidelines, which has helped UB maintain a very low positivity rate of less than 1%, significantly lower than local and state averages.

The university continues to closely monitor the prevalence of COVID-19 among UB’s on-campus population. Weekly surveillance testing is a key component of that.

The health and safety of students, faculty, staff and visitors to the university remains UB’s highest priority.

UB will continue to post daily updates on its COVID-19 Dashboard regarding the prevalence of on-campus cases and the results of the university’s weekly surveillance testing program.

The SUNY COVID-19 tracker shows the rolling 14-day average for SUNY campuses.