The University at Buffalo reported that 113 members of its community have tested positive for the Covid-19 virus as of Monday, according to UB's website.
Sixty of those cases are considered "on-campus" cases: 58 students - seven of whom live on campus and 51 or whom take "some in-person" classes - and two employees.
The remaining 53 cases are identified as "fully remote" students.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo requires that a school temporarily shift to online-only instruction when it reaches 100 "on campus" cases or 5% of the campus population, said UB spokesman John Della Contrada. UB has a student enrollment of nearly 29,000 undergraduate and graduate students on its two campuses.
"Our analysis shows that majority of the off-campus students who have tested positive for the virus reside in the Heights District and are isolating in their residences," he said. "It was a quiet weekend in the Heights, according to reports. So it appears the university’s efforts to curb parties and irresponsible behavior among students have had good effect. Hopefully this will translate into fewer positive cases this week."
People are also reading…
SUNY Oneonta announced last week that it had canceled all in-person classes for the fall semester, after more than 500 cases were reported on campus in the first two weeks of the school year.
UB's first day of class was Aug. 31. UB is offering a mix of remote and in-person learning this semester, with most classes transitioning to fully remote after Thanksgiving.
Maki Becker
