Dear Syracuse University students,

Please help keep the children of Syracuse safe from COVID-19 until they have access to a vaccine.

I am writing to you to say welcome to the 2021-22 school year at Syracuse and to ask you for a sincere favor. I have been connected to the SU community for most of my life. My parents are retired faculty from the College of Visual and Performing Arts. I grew up at the top of Clarendon Street and attended the Newhouse School of Public Communications. My husband is on staff at the SU Art Museum and we currently live in the neighborhood with our four children who will likely attend SU when they’re older.

Like all of us, you have been stressed and isolated by the pandemic during what is supposed to be a very social time in your lives. Last year, I saw how careful and respectful the majority of you were regarding COVID-19 safety. You wore masks and made sacrifices, and it made a difference.

We have lost way too many community members to this disease, but the situation would’ve been so much worse if you hadn’t done your part. Since then, you did your part again and got vaccinated, so thank you. Now, classes are back in full swing and rules regarding off-campus gathering and quarantine have been relaxed. For the most part, you have your lives back.

Unfortunately, the delta variant has taken hold. About 40% of local Covid cases are among vaccinated people. Thankfully, those breakthrough cases are mostly not resulting in serious illness. However, they are contributing to the continued spread of the virus. As our case numbers spike again, one of the most vulnerable populations are now children under the age of 12 who do not have access to a vaccine.

Later this week, kids in Syracuse are headed back to school, many of them for the first time since March 2020. What does this have to do with you? Even if you don’t come in contact with children in your daily lives, you are part of their community and play an important role in keeping them safe.

In Syracuse, we are all connected. We go to the same stores and eat at the same restaurants, and thousands of local community members work on campus. They teach your classes, serve your food, clean your classrooms, work your events and drive your busses.

Many of the folks you come in contact with go home to family members who are under 12, elderly or disabled, all of whom can’t afford a breakthrough case.

As a mother and neighbor, I am asking for your help in keeping the vulnerable safe. When you go to the grocery store or you’re standing in line for coffee or bagels or you’re picking up takeout order, please wear your mask.

On the weekends, we want you to have fun and relax, but please reduce the opportunity for COVID-19 transmission by gathering outdoors and in smaller groups. If you’re not feeling well, please get a test to be safe. If you’ve been exposed to COVID-19, even if you’re vaccinated and  don’t have to quarantine, please isolate as much as possible until you know you’re in the clear.

Have a great semester and enjoy yourselves. Please also do what you can to reduce the spread until there’s a vaccine available for our children. They have sacrificed so much through the pandemic. It’s on us to keep them healthy and keep their schools open.

We can’t do it without you.

Sincerely,

Annabel Hine Otts

Published on September 6, 2021 at 8:26 pm