If someone in my class tests positive for COVID-19, will I need to quarantine?
No, and this point represents an important difference between our spring 2020 and fall 2020 responses to positive cases.
In spring 2020, when classes were still meeting as normal, the College was recommending that students quarantine if a classmate had tested positive, because we could not be sure that there was sufficient distance between students in the same class section and, at the time, no one was wearing masks in class.
For fall 2020, all in-person classes will take place with students and faculty masked and maintaining a minimum of six feet of social distance. For that reason, if a student tests positive during the fall 2020 semester, students who are enrolled in the same in-person course(s) will not be required to quarantine.
This is in accordance with current SUNY, state and CDC guidance that quarantine is necessary only in cases when a person has been without a mask and has spent more than 10 minutes within six feet of an infected person.
As part of our contract tracing practices for fall 2020, faculty members will be notified if a student in one of their classes has tested positive, but again, there will be no expectation that students or faculty in that section quarantine if they have been compliant with in-class policies on masking and social distancing.
