Potsdam Campus Community,
We were notified today that a member of our campus community who has been on campus over the break in a limited venue has tested positive for COVID-19. Early contact tracing discussions reflect limited inclusion of others in the wider community and indicate no further actions by the campus.
We also know that there are several other positive cases reported this weekend among employees and students who have NOT been on campus in the last month. As part of helping to rebuild the bubble, they were following both the NYS Travel Advisory for persons planning to enter/return to NYS and following Clarkson’s return to campus information summarized in a December 9 email announcement.
Thank you for everyone’s diligence and commitment to stop the spread of COVID-19 and for caring about the Clarkson family. We wish our colleagues and peers good health and owe them our gratitude for following the protocols.
If you have not familiarized yourself with this NEED-TO-KNOW information and are making plans to come on campus since leaving for Winter break, please take the time to do so! These resources and others are detailed on the Spring 2021 Information page.
On today’s positive case, and for those that occur from campus testing and locally, St. Lawrence County Public Health representatives are notified and will work with each individual. We also report these on our Dashboard and to NYS for its comprehensive reporting on all colleges.
- To respect the privacy of the individual, they will remain anonymous. We send them our well wishes.
- They will remain quarantined by the St. Lawrence County Public Health Department until officials have cleared them.
- As part of the NYS protocols in any positive test case, a representative of the St. Lawrence County Public Health Department will notify directly any community members, students, faculty, and staff who may have been exposed and will give further guidance. These contacts will remain confidential.
- Public Health may ask the University for information to support their review and your assistance, if asked to help, is appreciated.
We understand that announcements like this may cause concern in our immediate community. If you have any questions about this communication, please contact clarksonhr@clarkson.edu and/or me. We care about all of you and complete transparency in our communications.
Keep looking out for your community.
Kelly Chezum, VP for External Relations
Restart Communications Lead
kchezum@clarkson.edu
*These are the daily screening questions (See the footer of every clarkson.edu web page to complete the screening tool!) to keep using and to act up on if you answer yes to any of these.
- Do you currently have a fever (temperature of 100.4 F or greater) without having taken any fever-reducing medications?
- Have you experienced any of the following COVID-19 related symptoms in the past 14 days: cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fever, chills, muscle pain, sore throat, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or new loss of taste or smell?
- Have you tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 14 days, or have you been instructed by a health care professional/public health official/contact tracing app to self-isolate or quarantine?
- Have you knowingly been in close (within 6 feet) or proximate (same enclosed environment, such as an office, but greater than 6 feet) contact with anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 or who has or had symptoms of COVID-19 within the past 14 days?