Coronavirus Recap -- Sept. 26, 2022

Posted

Wednesday
The State University of New York no longer updates a daily coronavirus tracker, but SUNY Cortland will establish its own, President Erik Bitterbaum announced.

SUNY Cortland will collect self-reported data from students and employees for a tracker to be updated on Fridays, Bitterbaum said in a letter to the campus.

"I hope this data will be helpful in keeping students, faculty and staff informed," Bitterbaum said. "Please keep in mind that the tracker will be an incomplete picture because the data is self-reported, but it could be valuable in identifying trends."

Human Resources staff will collect and report aggregated employee data into the SUNY Cortland tracker, he said. Students will complete a form in myRedDragon to self-report their data and inform their associate dean of their absence.

Friday
Cortland County dropped to low risk from medium risk, the CDC reported Thursday night, meaning no additional precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are suggested.

Broome and Tioga dropped to medium risk from high risk, while other counties around Cortland remained unchanged.

Cortland County had 79 new cases of COVID-19 between Sept. 15 and Wednesday, giving it a rate of 166.03 cases per 100,000 people, the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

Saturday
For many local schools, September marked the first return to normal instruction since March 2020. As the U.S. education system mourns its instructional time losses, it must also grapple with the social and emotional ones.

“Nothing replaces in-person interaction,” said Marathon High School Principal Jamie Coppola. “The teachers and students did the best they could do. But that will never replace the hands-on experience they missed.”

In 2022, the National Center for Education Statistics saw the largest decline in reading assessment scores among 9-year-old students since 1990. It also saw the first ever math assessment score drops in that age group. The social-emotional losses students experienced are harder to quantify.

As they start a new school year, educators have begun exploring their options for recovering from the losses. They’re considering broadening counseling and tutoring, lengthening school days and years and expanding summer school for students in need.

The solution is under debate. The problem is not.

“We’re not going to see a traditional student again for 12 years,” Coppola said.