Coronavirus Update, November 27, 2020
A second Covid-19 testing center opened today in Tompkins County. The Ithaca Voice reports that Cayuga Health Systems is operating a sampling center at 412 North Tioga street on property owned by Tompkins County. The hours will be 8am to 4pm Monday thru Friday.
The new center will operate as a walk-up and will use a different sampling process than that used at the drive-in center at the Shops at Ithaca Mall. Patients will produce a saliva sample and then drop it off at the center.
The saliva sample can be produced at the center, at home or in one’s car. There will be limited appointments each day which can be made on the website or by telephone. The website is cayugahealth.org and the phone number is 607-319-5708. Repeating, the website is cayugahealth.org and the phone is 607-319-5708.
The new center will serve the local population that may not have access to transportation to the site at The Shops at Ithaca Mall. Note that there is no patient parking available at the new Tioga Street site. Information on the payment policy at the new site is not yet available. Payment policy at the Ithaca Mall site has been free for Tompkins County residents and $99 for all others.
The Ithaca City School District will continue to offer five day in-person and distance learning for elementary school students for the first semester of the spring session.
As of now, February 1 is the possible start date for ICSD to go back to school next year. The district is currently gathering feedback from students and their families about whether or not they would like to stick to the learning method they chose in August.
A flyer that has been distributed to families details that students who stay with the same mode of learning that they chose in August of this year would have the same teacher, classmates, schedule, and connection to the fall lessons.
According to the Ithaca Voice, there were about 970 students enrolled in the distance learning program. About 1,300 pre-K to 5th grade students were enrolled in the five-day in-person learning program.
ICSD Superintendent Luvelle Brown tells the Ithaca Voice that, with the district’s success of mitigating any spread of COVID-19 at the school, he doesn’t anticipate major shifts in one way or another. He also adds that he cannot guarantee that there will be no major changes before February 1st.
As the fall semester gradually comes to a conclusion for both Ithaca College and Cornell University students, both institutions have begun to reveal plans for the Spring semester.
The Ithaca Times reports that both IC and Cornell have moved to fully remote instruction for the rest of the semester. Ithaca College students will complete their semester on December 19, while Cornell students finish on December 21.
Ithaca College will begin to welcome student-athletes back on campus starting on January 7, followed by essential student workers on January 15. General move-in will be spread out from January 19 to February 5 and classes will begin February 9. Dean of Students Bonnie Prunty states that all students will have a COVID test upon arrival, and will be tested once weekly after that.
Spring move-in plans for Cornell University will be similar to those for fall semester, with students living on campus having an assigned date of arrival. Those students will need to comply with New York State quarantine and testing requirements. Students who live off-campus will have to self-quarantine for 5 days while awaiting two negative test results. All students will need to have required testing before being allowed to access campus facilities.
Classes at Cornell will begin on February 8 and conclude on May 25. The University has not yet announced whether there will be an in-person graduation after the conclusion of the academic year.
There are no Spring breaks built into the semester schedule for either school. Instead, both IC and Cornell will have two separate two-day wellness breaks during which travel will be strongly discouraged.
This week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the New York Governor’s executive order limiting the size of religious services in zones of the state seeing high community spread of COVID-19.
The decision handed down by the court was made in a 5-4 vote, reports the Albany Times-Union. In a press conference Thursday, Governor Andrew Cuomo said that the Supreme Court was making a political statement in shooting down his order. Of the nine justices, six are Conservative.
However, the Governor says the decision quote “isn’t final” unquote and that the case will go back to the U.S. Second Court of Appeals. He adds that the case is now moot because the religious organizations that challenged the order are no longer in the “orange” and “red” zones for COVID-19 spread.
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Looking at the local COVID-19 caseload, the latest numbers, released today from the Tompkins County health department, indicate that there are 31 additional positives, and 10 new recoveries. According to the County Health Department, that leaves 175 active cases of COVID-19 in Tompkins.
In Schuyler County, there are 9 new cases of COVID-19 reported as of Wednesday, November 25th, leaving 41 active cases, according to their Health Department. The next COVID dashboard update from the Schuyler Health Department will be on Monday, November 30th.
Contributing Writers: Fred Balfour, Michayla Savitt, Esther Racoosin