Aug. 19 (UPI) — The University of Notre Dame announced plans to suspend in-person classes beginning Wednesday as nearly 150 people on campus tested positive for COVID-19.
University President the Rev. John Jenkins announced Tuesday that classes will move to remote instruction only until Aug. 24 for professional students and graduate students and until Sept. 2 for undergraduates.
The university said 927 people have been tested since Aug. 3, with 146 students and one staff member testing positive.
None of the people who tested positive was hospitalized, and the university said most of the cases involved seniors living off-campus and were linked to “off-campus gatherings where neither masks were worn nor physical distancing observed.”
Jenkins also announced enhanced testing for students experiencing symptoms and surveillance testing for those without symptoms, describing the coronavirus as “a formidable foe.”
“With the advice and encouragement of Dr. Mark Fox of the St. Joseph County Health Department, we believe we can take steps short of sending students home for remote instruction, at least for the time being, while still protecting the health and safety of the campus community,” he said.
The news comes after the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced Monday that all in-person classes would shift to remote learning after more than 130 students tested positive for COVID-19.
Also Tuesday, the World Health Organization warned that young people, particularly those in their 20s, 30s and 40s, are increasingly driving infection rates, mostly passing it unknowingly through asymptomatic spread.
