Cornell University has gone into 'red alert' territory and moved student finals online after a spike in COVID-19 cases that officials suspect has been caused by the highly-contagious Omicron variant.
Libraries have been shut, athletic competitions are cancelled and upcoming events have been scrapped after 214 new cases were confirmed Monday and another 227 tests came back positive Sunday.
Cases at the Ithaca, New York campus - where 97 percent of staff and students are vaccinated, the university says - began snowballing last week.
There were 12 cases December 6 and another 27 on December 7; the following day, the figure more than doubled to 58 cases, according to university data.
The school's COVID-19 testing lab found evidence of the Omicron variant in a 'significant number' of Monday's positive student samples, Cornell President Martha E. Pollack said in a statement.
COVID-19 cases at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York began snowballing in the past week. There were 12 cases December 6 and another 27 on December 7; the following day, the figure more than doubled to 58 cases
She said that although the school isn't certain Omicron is to blame, it's proceeding as if it is and taking immediate measures to protect its population.
Cornell University president Martha E. Pollack
'While there is still much that is not known about the Omicron variant, it appears to be significantly more transmissible than Delta and other variants,' Pollack said in the letter. 'There is some evidence (though far from certain) that it generally causes milder cases, particularly among vaccinated individuals.
'However, when you have high transmissibility, you’re going to have very high numbers of cases, and so even with lower rates of serious illness, outbreaks must be taken seriously.'
The school moving to red alert also prompted the cancellation of a December 18 recognition ceremony for December graduates.
It asked those living in dorms to take their cafeteria meals to-go and eat in their rooms, and said visitors are not allowed on campus unless they're there to whisk a student away for winter break.
'It is obviously extremely dispiriting to have to take these steps,' Pollack said. 'However, since the start of the pandemic, our commitment has been to follow the science and do all we can to protect the health of our faculty, staff, and students.'
Cases are on the rise despite 97 percent of staff and students being vaccinated
The university's figures show that students are disproportionately becoming infected. All of those who tested positive Monday were students, while employees accounted for just seven of the 227 cases on Sunday.
An uptick in COVID-19 cases has prompted efforts to curb the spread across the country, including in New York and California, which are temporarily bringing back their mask mandates.
The Biden administration is preparing for a surge of Omicron cases that it worries will sicken Americans and exacerbate an already overloaded healthcare system.
Omicron is now in 33 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, including far off Alaska, as the mutant strain that has dominated the world in recent weeks continues its rampant spread across America
The Omicron COVID-19 variant (purple) now accounts for 3% of U.S. Covid cases, up from less than one percent last week. The Delta variant (orange) is still the nation's dominant strain, accounting for 97% of new cases, per CDC data
'Everything points to a large wave. A large wave is coming,' a senior administration official in President Joe Biden's White House told Axios.
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