Columbia Implements 10-Person Limit On Indoor Gatherings

Upper West Side NY

18 September, 2021

1:53 PM

Description

Columbia Daily Spectator BY ADAM BURNS SEPTEMBER 17, 2021 Following a rise in the COVID-19 positivity rate among Columbia Housing residents, all Columbia affiliates will face tighter in-person restrictions for the next two weeks, the University announced in an email Friday afternoon. At 7 p.m. Friday night, residential students will temporarily lose access to other residence halls, and commuter access to dormitories will be suspended for the next two weeks. During this period, indoor masked gatherings for Columbia College and School of Engineering and Applied Science students will be limited to a maximum of 10 people, down from the current cap of 25. Clubs and organizations were encouraged to move all programming online or outdoors for the next two weeks. Students in Columbia College and SEAS living in Columbia residence halls have had access to other dormitories since move-in. However, Barnard students, General Studies students, and Columbia College and SEAS students residing off-campus gained residence hall access via sign-in at the start of classes. The University has been offering free, voluntary testing for asymptomatic vaccinated faculty, staff, and students up to once a week at the Lerner Hall testing site through Sept. 30, after which the policy will be reevaluated. Per the email, the number of vaccinated students selected for random surveillance testing will be increased to 25 percent. With the return to campus, the University outlined different protocols for COVID-19 restrictions dependent on the current risk level on campus and in the city—lower (green), low (yellow), moderate (orange), and higher (red)—with increasing severity of restriction. Upon students' full return to campus, the risk level was yellow. One of the benchmarks to meet the orange risk level is for there to be multiple campus-related clusters or cases of COVID-19. Other metrics to meet the orange risk level include New York City surpassing a 7-day rolling average of 360 COVID-19 hospitalizations, 50 COVID-19-related deaths, and 1,000 COVID-19 cases per day. At present, New York City is reporting 1,707 cases per day, greatly surpassing the third metric, although this data is evaluated in the context of other metrics. If the University were to reach the orange risk level, guidelines note that academic life might also face restrictions—with the potential of implementing hybrid instruction and staggered workspaces. At present, University policy does not mandate that professors offer hybrid options, and students who are isolating or in quarantine have had to coordinate with professors on an individual basis about keeping up with coursework. The email sent out Friday afternoon does not mention any new restrictions on academic gatherings. This follows a joint announcement from Columbia College and SEAS on Sept. 15 noting that while no transmissions were traced to exposures in classrooms, administrators noticed an uptick in cases among students attending social events. "We have seen transmission connected to students socializing unmasked at gatherings in residence halls, birthday celebrations, and restaurants and bars," the announcement read. The University will reassess the risk level for affiliates and whether there is a need to continue implementation of these new guidelines in two weeks. Staff writer Adam Burns can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow Spectator on Twitter @ColumbiaSpec. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.