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Syracuse University is developing plans to create its own COVID-19 saliva testing laboratory to supplement its existing testing partnerships, an SU official said during Wednesday’s Graduate Student Organization Senate meeting. 

Ramesh Raina, interim vice president for research, will lead the creation of a saliva testing lab at SU, said Vice Chancellor Mike Haynie, who has led SU’s coronavirus response. Under the plan, the university would continue to partner with Upstate Medical University for testing while also maintaining its own saliva testing facilities, he said.

The lab will afford SU greater flexibility in its testing procedures, he said.

“We’re going to be in this for a while,” Haynie said. “It does concern me, even though Upstate is a wonderful partner, that our fate on such an important issue is dependent upon an entity that we don’t necessarily control.”

More details about plans for the lab will be released in the coming weeks, Haynie said.

Haynie fielded questions from graduate students and GSO senators about a variety of COVID-19-related topics including testing, vaccination and the politicization of the pandemic.

Some senators expressed concerns about the setup of the university’s testing center in the Carrier Dome, which has at times been crowded and not allowed for proper social distancing. The university is currently carrying out its third round of mandatory campus-wide coronavirus testing.

“It got uncomfortably crowded,” Haynie said. “We’re trying to address that.”

The university switched its main testing site to the Dome after conducting testing on the Quad for the first several weeks of the semester.

SU has already increased the size of the staging area in the Dome where students and staff wait for their tests and has added new floor signage to promote social distancing, Haynie said. When the flu shot clinic at the Dome ends this week, that space can also serve as a coronavirus testing area, he said.

Haynie also reaffirmed university officials are working to repurpose the Dome in the spring semester to host classes and other student activities.

“The winter is going to get tougher,” Haynie said. “We’re going to have to be creative about how we replicate those outdoor spaces that people love so much with large, open indoor spaces. We’re working on that now.”

Opening up the Dome for routine student use, teaching and office hours with professors will allow students and staff to socialize once the weather turns cold and snowy, he said. The recently renovated Dome features the highest quality air filtration system on campus and can replace the stadium’s entire air volume nearly 10 times an hour, Haynie said.

Haynie also confirmed that students who are unable to return home during the winter break can stay on campus. Graduate research facilities and libraries, among other buildings, will remain open with swipe card access, he said.

Some senators also questioned the effectiveness of a two-week tally of positive test results that appears on SU’s COVID-19 dashboard.

Under Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s guidance for reopening schools, colleges and universities that report 100 coronavirus cases within a fixed two-week period must stop residential instruction and limit in-person activities for at least two weeks. During the two-week period when SU experienced its first cluster of COVID-19 cases, SU reported 80 new cases, just 20 under the state’s limit.

The two-week reporting protocols were developed by the state, and SU can’t change them, Haynie said. The university will explore reporting a rolling count of positive test results, he said.

Political disputes related to the virus have also made it difficult for the university to access new federally controlled testing systems, Haynie said.

“The extent to which this virus has been politicized is criminal,” Haynie said.

The federal government controls the supply chain for a new five-minute test that would considerably increase safety at SU if the university could acquire it, he said.

“The current administration has not given many of those tests to New York state,” Haynie said. “We’re not at the top of the love list.”

Published on October 28, 2020 at 10:46 pm

Contact Michael: msessa@syr.edu | @MichaelSessa3