OSWEGO,NY- SUNY Oswego President Deborah Stanley says the campus can now transition back to in-person classes starting Monday. She says the campus has successfully slowed the spread of COVID-19. However, the only change permitted will be the transition to in-person classes.

This means students, on or off-campus, are still expected to limit their movements for essential purposes only. Student clubs and organizations cannot hold meetings in person. On-campus students cannot host visitors in their residence halls, including students from other dorms. The dining halls will still be takeout only.

All outlines in the SUNY-wide emergency directive will continue to be enforced at SUNY Oswego. The directive says a student’s card access can be revoked if a student fails to fill out their health screening or fails to take a mandatory COVID test, At a press conference today, President Stanley says no such issue has been brought to her attention where a student forgets to fill out their health screening or failed to take a test.

Oswego County Administrator Phil Church says the Oswego County Health Department approved SUNY Oswego’s decision to continue in-person classes. SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras praised the effort between the college and the community to contain the virus.

Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow says only one mass gathering was broken up during the two week pause.

According to SUNY Oswego’s COVID-19 dashboard, there are only 28 active cases of COVID-19 in the campus community and 30 counting towards the NYS-remote learning threshold.

Stanley says the school will continue surveillence testing which will take place every three weeks.

As of 9:30 this morning SUNY Oswego has cancelled all afternoon classes due to inclement weather.  This entails all classes that begin at or after noon anywhere on the SUNY Oswego campus.

Heavy snowfall and blowing snow combined with frigid temperatures have prompted the school to take this action. Safety is the main concern for students and faculty as they head from building to building for class, as well as for those faculty and students who commute to the campus.

Visibility is limited and walkways are barely identifiable all across campus and Oswego as a whole.  Campus officials are making efforts to clear the snow as quickly as possible, but with some reservation, as to protect themselves and students in the low visibility conditions.

The National Weather Service is calling for a 100% chance for Lake Effect Snow all across Oswego and has issued warnings out all across Central New York.  The snow is expected to continue into tonight with a slight tapering off in the later evening.  Accumulation is expected to reach 3-5 inches, and temperatures are ranging from, 5-10 degrees.  With winds out of the Southwest at 10 to 15 mph and gusts up to 30 mph the temperature feels more like a frigid -3 degrees.

Take a look at what walking around campus is really like with this short clip.

Walk Around SUNY Oswego