by, Madalyn Johnson, Web Editor
In an email sent out on Thursday, Sept. 24, the One Manhattan Office notified the community that last week 172 COVID-19 tests were completed on campus and zero results came back positive.
Over the past 14 days, the college has had a 0.9 percent positive test rate which is slightly below New York City’s overall positive rate of 1.1 percent. There have only been three reported cases of COVID-19, two being students and one a faculty member. Those individuals have been quarantining off-campus.
Last week, the One Manhattan Office sent out an email on Sept. 18, saying that 443 test results were completed on and off-campus and that three results came back positive. This gave the school a 0.7 percent positive rate, in comparison to New York City’s positive rate of 0.9 percent as of Sept. 17.
Peter McHugh, director of media relations and strategic communications for Manhattan College, emailed The Quadrangle a statement regarding the recent COVID-19 update sent by the One Manhattan Office.
“We’re following the New York City and New York State Department of Health protocols in dealing with positive cases,” McHugh wrote. “Our contact tracing team is working closely with the Health Services team to identify close contacts. The quarantine protocols we have in place, combined with regular surveillance testing, are two ways that have been shown to limit the number of positive cases within any community. Our community needs to continue to wear face coverings, stay socially distant and wash their hands regularly to maintain a low infection rate on campus.”
In addition to alerting students, parents and faculty that the college had no new COVID cases to report, the email announced that the community will soon have access to spaces and resources that have been closed since the beginning of the semester.
Fitness centers in New York are now allowed to open at 33% capacity with masks being mandatory. Following this news, the email explained that “following required inspections and safeguarding,” the fitness center at Kelly Commons will reopen on Monday, October 5. The One Manhattan Office noted that the community will receive more information as opening week approaches.
Along with the fitness center, indoor dining at spaces Locke’s Loft, Cafe 1853 and the Kelly Commons marketplace will resume on Monday, Oct. 5. The email reassured the college that, “the One Manhattan Office is working with our facilities and dining services teams to safely operate our on-campus, indoor dining facilities.” The email said more information will follow before the opening week.
The fifth floor of Kelly Commons and Cafe 1853 are still available for commuter and resident students to use as class and study spaces. The O’Malley Library, at limited capacity, is also open.
The One Manhattan office again informed the community that the college is now releasing weekly updates about COVID-19 testing and quarantine data through a public dashboard.
Manhattan College will have available regular surveillance testing in Smith Auditorium on Friday, Sept. 25, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. If tested, students are still expected to fill out the COVID-19 Daily Symptom Tracker.