Ken Ihrer
Dear CCNY Community
As we continue to persevere through this COVID Pandemic, I thought that I would provide everyone with a gentle reminder of safety protocols here on campus as well as to remind you to take precautions whenever you are out and about. As most of you are probably aware, the number of positive cases are on the rise across the country, as well as here in New York State and New York City.
Until a vaccine is widely distributed, our best defense is to wear a mask and exercise proper hygiene. If you are on campus, a mask is mandatory at all times unless you are in an isolated and closed-off office. As soon as you go into any shared space, a mask must be worn covering your mouth and nose. Please take advantage of the sanitization stations across campus and wash your hands frequently. If you are feeling ill, please DO NOT come to campus. Please report to the COVID-coordinator@ccny.cuny.edu if you are feeling symptoms and have previously been on campus within two days of symptom onset. Regardless if you have been on campus or not, we are here to assist you in finding a testing center and providing support.
In order to give you a better picture of how the CCNY Campus is doing with regards to COVID, I want to bring your attention to a couple of resources. First, we are starting a daily COVID Update webpage where you can see which buildings are open/closed, the latest positive COVID cases of people who have been on campus, and information specific to our cleaners who are working hard to keep our campus safe. This resource can be reached at Return to Campus.
The second resource is the NY Forward COVID Report Card for schools. This is located at School Report (ny.gov) and you will click on Higher Education Institutions and then enter CUNY City College. The report is displayed in 14 day periods and you can select which period to look at.
Overall, the City College campus community has been very diligent in keeping cases low. We have undertaken measures to reduce campus occupancy to around 325 people per day. This low concentration of only essential people has been the key to keeping our rate low. Our residence hall (The Towers at CCNY) has also done a very good job of keeping COVID cases very low. Prior to Thanksgiving, residents of the Towers were tested and results showed a 100% negative rate. The residents were once again tested after returning with also a 100% negative rate.
We can fight this virus together and if all of us follow the guidelines and do our part, we can keep infections down to a minimum within our community. We all look forward to the day we can all be together again. In the meantime, stay vigilant and know that we are here and we are a community. Please reach out to us if you feel the need for support or assistance. Our Human Resources department and our Student Services are ready and willing to assist in any way that we can.
Sincerely,
Ken Ihrer
Vice President of Operations
Coronavirus Coordinator
The City College of New York