The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/cluster/)
After Cornell identified a cluster of COVID-19 cases Friday, a record-high number of students moved into isolation, forcing the University to expand capacity beyond the Statler Hotel and into nearby hotels for contact-traced and COVID-19 positive students.
Campus was waking up from break when President Martha Pollack landed a sucker punch. The scathing and well-deserved rebuke was given a culprit by the administration: Greek life. Social media users proceeded to publicly shame Greek houses, ranging from mild frustration to targeted attacks. Compared to some Reddit posters, the email sent by the administration was tame. Unfortunately, the virus is a perfect target for many parts of Greek life.
On Thursday — the second day of classes — Cornell entered a yellow alert level, indicating a low to moderate risk level. There are now 47 total active cases on campus and 61 active cases in Tompkins County.
Tompkins reported the highest COVID-19 active cases and highest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic on Wednesday evening.
Less than four days after the University announced that a cluster of nine students had tested positive for COVID-19, the Tompkins County Health Department said that another 12 individuals who were close contacts of them have contracted the virus — bringing the total number of new campus cases in the past week to 24.
Reopening is not without bumps in the road. And plans have changed and may continue to change.
On Friday, Tompkins County Health Department identified the first cluster of COVID-19 cases at Cornell, following several small social gatherings where people did not social distance or wear masks. The county now has 18 active cases.