Dear Faculty and Staff,
We are excited to welcome our community back to our campuses for the fall term.
Our top priority is to keep our community safe. As we watch the trends of increased cases of COVID-19 at our peer higher education institutions, we are proactively taking extra precautions. Accordingly, over the next few days we will test all students currently residing in our residence halls and all residential life staff for COVID-19. Residential students and staff will then be expected to quarantine for up to 48 hours, or until their test results are received. During this time, Mercy will provide meals and other supports to these individuals and we appreciate your understanding as students will need to attend class remotely. Thereafter, the College will conduct ongoing surveillance testing of a sample of residential students and staff in the residence halls on a bi-weekly basis throughout the term.
As planned, Mercy will continue to test symptomatic students and their close contacts. Any student who tests positive will be required to self-isolate, their roommates will be tested and quarantined, and contact tracing will be conducted. Faculty or staff who are symptomatic are encouraged to visit a local testing site or call the New York State COVID-19 Hotline at 1-888-364-3065 or visit the NYS DOH website https://covid19screening.health.ny.gov to be screened for eligibility at one of the State’s Testing Sites.
Through these efforts we believe we can mitigate potential spread of COVID-19 and further ensure the health and safety of our community.
Sincerely,
Kevin Joyce
Vice President of Student Affairs