As of last Friday, the University has transitioned from Phase 1 into Phase 2 for hall visitation. This move, while unexpected, came to the delight of many students who could now visit their friends in other family units within the assigned residential areas. Unfortunately, the very next evening, students received news about a possible exposure with Common’s College and Kappa Kappa Gamma House residents being placed in quarantine.

News about moving into phase 2 was announced via an email from the Vice President for University Communications Paul Redfern. The email came as a surprise as the university has just reverted to Phase 1 a week earlier due to many students missing their weekly tests as well as rising Covid-19 cases within the county.

According to the New York Times report on Coronavirus in St. Lawrence County; “Cases are very high and have stayed about the same over the past two weeks.” The report also classifies SLC at  “a high-risk level”. Moreover, there are about 130 covid cases within Canton and Potsdam Townships as of March 1st according to the SLC Covid-19 dashboard. These facts only speak to the heightened risk of contracting the coronavirus Laurentians face when out and about in the county.

To reflect the risks mentioned above, the college has maintained the moderate campus operating status (Yellow), which means that the  incidence of the virus remains low, but indicators show increased or potential for increase in transmission. Currently there are six active student cases, one of them on campus and one employee case.

Vice president Redfern cited “the high percentage of testing compliance” as one of the reasons for the college to transition into Phase 2 with a possibility of transitioning into Phase 3 by March 8, 2021 given that students continue to adhere to the Laurentian Pact. “even a very small number of violations can put our entire campus at risk of a return to Phase 1 or worse, an end to our in-person semester” warned Vice president Redfern in an email. 

“I am pretty happy to meet my friends in other wings of the dorm” said Luke Lynn ‘24. Luke lives in Lee Hall, which has being paired with Priest hall to increase the pool of first year students that can visit each other outside their extended family units while still observing the Laurentian Pact. Luke is also really hopeful that the university transitions into phase 3.

While it is possible to transition into Phase 3- which will mean more visitation privileges over the weekends- it is important to realise how quickly the situation can get out of control. For example our neighbouring colleges saw spikes, seemingly overnight, with Clarkson University having up to 97 active cases in a week which promoted the University to issue a “red alert” and go fully remote back in February.