New York State has suspended study abroad programs in China, Italy, Japan, Iran and South Korea where the largest outbreaks of coronavirus are happening.
That means some 300 SUNY and City University of New York students will be forced to come back to the U.S. and school-sponsored trips to those countries this spring are canceled.
Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the students in Italy, Japan and South Korea will have charter flights to New York’s Stewart Airport, then they will be quarantined 14 days at designated SUNY dorms.
There are nine students from the University at Buffalo among that group.
The state says there will be a quarantine site in Western New York, but neither UB, the state or county will not disclose specifically where.
UB officials are preparing for that possibility.
”We’ve had constant conversations with our housing and dining facilities about what we might do in the event that we had such situations and we think we have some plans that are evolving through that process,” said UB Provost A. Scott Weber.
“We’re not going to talk about numbers of quarantine or number of people tested,” said Susan Snyder, director of health services at UB. “Our main concern and what we would share with the UB community as well as Erie County would share is if we have a confirmed case.”
“UB has a lot of housing here so you can ask them how they’re approaching finding a site,” said Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein. “If they ask us for help we always willing to help them. It is a public health concern. That’s why they will be quarantined for 14 days and not exposing themselves to the rest of the community.
UB will not say if any students are in quarantine right now, but one student who previously returned from China at the beginning of the semester did test negative for coronavirus. That student was quarantined somewhere in the Buffalo area. That’s believed to be the first person tested in Erie County.
SUNY Buffalo State recently directed three students to quarantine away from campus after returning from foreign trips.
SUNY Fredonia has five students coming back from Italy, but again, it is unclear specifically where they will be quarantined.