Moore Tells his Sheraton Quarantine Experience

REPORTER: Many people may think staying at a hotel sounds a bit nicer than life in the dorms. Sophomore Sam Moore however, a Syracuse student who recently finished his quarantine at the Sheraton on University Avenue, may disagree. Moore’s main struggle in isolation: concentrating.

MOORE: I was still really getting acclimated to a lot of my classes. I didn’t even get to really meet all of my teachers, and even just staying focused in the same room every day was very difficult.

REPORTER: The Sheraton offers students three meals a day while in isolation. While the meals were not great, Moore says he did like the majority of them. For future students entering quarantine, Moore has a few words of encouragement.

MOORE: It is not something you want to be doing, but at the end of the day you are doing good for your community, a community you really love like I really love Syracuse and I want Syracuse University to not be one of the colleges that’s getting sent home in October and even September.

REPORTER: Going forward, S-U will continue hosting students at the Sheraton as needed. Updates on the virus are on the university website’s COVID-19 dashboard.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) – Just before the first week of school, Sam Moore, a sophomore at Syracuse University, drove his car along with a few friends to go get rapid coronavirus testing done in Oswego.

Shortly after the testing, the group found out their results. The first three tests were negative. The final friend walked out positive.

A day or two later, Moore said he received a call from a 315 number.

“I got a call from New York Contact Tracing and thought ‘uh oh, this isn’t good,’” Moore said. “Basically, the girl who tested positive had told the tracers that she had been in a car with us, and all of us got sent to quarantine at the Sheraton.”

Soon after, Moore realized that his hotel room would be his room for the next 12 days. The Sheraton supplied him with three meals a day throughout his stay.

“About half the time I liked the meals,” Moore said. “It wasn’t bad because it was hotel food, and if I really needed to I could order room service on my own dime.”

The food was not the issue for Moore. He said that being cooped up in the same room was the real problem, especially since he was trying to get accustomed to all his classes.

“I didn’t get to meet all my teachers, and even just staying focused in the same room every day was very difficult,” Moore said.

Moore offered some advice for students who could be in quarantine in the future.

“It’s not something you want to be doing, but at the end of the day, you are doing good for your community, a community you really love,” Moore said. “I really love Syracuse and I want Syracuse University to not be one of the colleges that gets sent home.”