UPDATED: March 11, 2020 at 11:06 a.m.

Experts discussed concerns and misconceptions about the spread of the coronavirus at an open forum for Syracuse University community members Tuesday evening.

The novel coronavirus, COVID-19, is a respiratory disease that has spread to at least 109 countries, infected over 113,700 and killed more than 4,000.

There are currently no confirmed cases in Onondaga County. New York state reported 142 confirmed cases of the virus as of Tuesday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency Saturday in response to COVID-19’s spread.

SU announced Tuesday that it will suspend all on-campus classes until at least March 30 in response to COVID-19. The university will transition to online classes beginning Friday.

The COVID-19 situation rapidly developed in the United States through a series of structural flaws in national leadership, federal funding and the health system, said Dave Larsen, an associate professor of public health at SU’s David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics.

The U.S. government has operated on a basis of panic in response to health crises over the past 20 years, Larsen said. Regular funding for health emergency preparedness continues to decline, he said.

Of the CDC’s nearly $7 billion in federal funding for fiscal year 2020, about 35% is designated for preventing infectious diseases.

Epidemic response teams from the National Security Council and Department of Homeland Security were dismantled in May 2018 and remain unreplaced, Larsen added.

“So, our administration at the executive level then is gutted in terms of experts and systems to account for infectious disease,” Larsen said. “I liken this decision to getting rid of the fire department because we don’t have fires.”

Limited interaction in large group settings, also known as social distancing, is one of the best practices to slow the spread of COVID-19, Larsen said. SU schools and colleges will cancel, postpone or conduct online any social event in which attendance exceeds 50 people.

Slowing the speed of transmission will allow the health system to more efficiently handle the epidemic by tracking, isolating and quarantining individuals with COVID-19, he said. Keeping resources available to do so would require fast action from the government, he said.

“If you’re sick at the peak of this epidemic, there may not be a hospital bed for you,” he said.

In light of this, SU’s decision to cancel in-person classes through March 30 is a step in the right direction, Larsen said.

People with underlying medical conditions or older adults have a higher risk of serious illness with COVID-19. Although most of SU’s student population does not face the same risks, but the risk increases with unnecessary travel, Larsen said.

“We need to do what we can to try to decrease that spread, with an understanding that this will come, and we will get through it,” Larsen said. “We can do what we can to decrease the probability of its transmission, but there’s nothing we can do to completely stop it.”

SU’s transition to online classes has left some students feeling apprehensive about the spread of COVID-19, Julia Kelkenberg, a senior in Falk, said to the panelists.

“Us as students, all we know is that we’re not supposed to be back. And we don’t really know the full risks for transmission,” she said.

Public panic about infection will inevitably affect students’ daily lives, said Sarah Koutana, a senior in Falk. Hand sanitizer and traveling prices have already shot up in recent days in response to the issue, Koutana said.

Larsen hopes that federal and state governments continue mobilizing as the situation develops in the U.S. He said he doesn’t expect cities or states in the U.S. to go under lock down, based on precedent from the 1918 influenza pandemic.

People should try to focus on maintaining healthy actions and staying calm, said Tracey Marchese, a professor of practice at the Falk School of Social Work.

“Really think about, ‘If I’m doing everything that I can, and if I’m talking to my friends and my family about doing everything that they can, I’m keeping myself as safe as I possibly can. I’m keeping myself safe enough,’” Marchese said.

Medical Director Karen Nardella said it’s important for people to remain considerate of students whose cultures typically wear masks aside from health reasons and to not discriminate or show bias toward them on campus.

It is unclear whether the university will cancel on-campus classes for the remainder of the semester after March 30. SU will extend the date for students to return to campus if necessary, Marchese said.

The situation is uncertain at the moment because experts don’t know how the virus will spread, said Brittany Kmush, an assistant professor of public health at SU. It’s important to stay up to date on SU policies in the meantime, she said.

Administrators will have a better idea of what to do over the next two weeks, but Larsen said he remains optimistic about the situation.

“This is not an existential threat. We’ve been through this before as a human race, and we’ve been through this before as an American society,” Larsen said. “We do what we can to try to help others. We treat each other with humility and grace, and we push forward. We’ll survive this and it won’t be the end of the world.”

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, the amount of time on-campus classes will remain canceled was misstated. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on March 11, 2020 at 12:32 am

Contact Marnie: ammunozc@syr.edu