BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — University at Buffalo officials said there are no cases of the novel coronavirus at the university. Nonetheless they are taking steps to make sure students and staff stay safe and in the know.
They're advising the university community to follow CDC guidelines and to monitor their own health.
"Be taking you temperature, listen to your body if you're not feeling well. We're looking for fever, evaluating for cough and shortness of breath," said Sue Snyder, Director of Student Health Services at UB.
University officials put all this information to try and address any questions on this website.
"We do believe that active and consistent communications are an important part of our efforts to keep our community safe," said John DellaContrada, VP of Communications.
In addition, they've reached out the university's 1,500 Chinese students, half of whom may have gone to China over the break.
If they experience symptoms, they should stay where they are and contact the university's Student Health Services.
"We really want them to be contacting us. We will then work with them and the local health department with guidance from the state to determine if testing is necessary," said Snyder.
The Erie County Department of Health is the official source of information about confirmed cases, whether at UB or anywhere in the county.
"We have not switched to emergency mode, so far it's really been a really well run exercise in consistent communication," said Jay Roorbach, UB's Emergency Manager. "We have also reviewed plans that were put in place years ago for an ebola pandemic. And some of the things that we've planned for are actually if this were to become a worse situation with the corona virus, we would just implement our plans."
The World Health Organization declared coronavirus a global health emergency on Thursday with 170 people in China now known to have died from the virus.
