Keuka College officials say that they will temporarily close campus operations as they deal with an increase of COVID-19 cases.
A statement released by the college said that as of noon on Thursday, Yates County Public Health confirmed 14 new positive cases over the previous 24 hours, bringing the total number among the College population to more than 70.
The college notes that the figures don’t necessarily reflect new infections since the College and public health officials are still processing test results from an initial triggering event last week.
“While the public health guidance to keep students on-campus remains best practice, the growing number of cases has made separating healthy students from quarantining populations increasingly difficult,” said Keuka College President Amy Storey. “County and state health officials have given their permission for the college to allow healthy students who are not subject to a quarantine or isolation order to leave campus in order to create additional isolation and quarantine capacity.”
Keuka College officials said that they had just a single positive coronavirus case during the first six weeks of the semester. That changed after a public health investigation determined that a non-sanctioned, off-campus social gathering on Oct. 3 triggered the onset of the current cluster.
Since the first positive student case was reported on Oct. 7, the College took a number of steps including transitioning to distance learning earlier this week.
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