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Three coronavirus infections confirmed among Syracuse University students in central New York have not resulted in any additional exposures, a university official said Tuesday.

The university began reporting COVID-19 cases among students and employees Tuesday through an online dashboard. Eight SU students – three in central New York, five outside – have tested positive for the virus since Aug 2, according to the dashboard.

Two of the three student cases SU confirmed resulted from students who arrived on campus early for special programs, said Vice Chancellor Mike Haynie, who has been leading SU’s COVID-19 response. The third student case resulted from a student in central New York who received a test while applying for on-campus employment.

SU confirmed the five student cases outside central New York through pre-arrival testing, Haynie said. The university has required all students to receive and show proof of a negative COVID-19 test within 10 days of arriving on campus.

The university can’t release any identifying information about the infected students due to privacy laws.

“(SU) will always be a bit constrained by privacy laws in terms of how much ‘detail’ we can provide related to the circumstances of any individual positive case,” Haynie said in a statement. “This is something we take very seriously, as an obligation we have to our students and employees to protect confidential health information.”

The university has administered 1,344 total coronavirus tests from Aug. 2 to Tuesday. SU athletes and athletics staff account for about 400 of those tests, and first-year students received 400 tests before moving into residence halls to start their 14-day quarantine. All 800 of the tests came back negative, Haynie said.

The university’s test count also includes individuals who received multiple tests, he said.

“Importantly, that is not necessarily the same as saying that 1,344 individuals were tested,” Haynie said. “It could be that one person was tested twice, for example, within the reporting period.”

SU currently plans to update the COVID-19 dashboard weekly, on Tuesday, but the university could move to updates twice a week if the caseload increases. The university hasn’t seen a new COVID-19 case among students, faculty or staff in weeks, Haynie said Tuesday.

The university is also training 20 undergraduate students to join SU’s contact tracing team. About half of the contact tracers already had contact tracing experiencing before applying to join the university’s team, Haynie said.

“They have already been doing contact tracing all summer in places like New York City,” Haynie said. “They’re coming to our campus with experience.”

Published on August 13, 2020 at 7:28 pm

Contact Chris: cjhippen@syr.edu