Aug. 18 (UPI) — The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced that all in-person classes would shift to remote learning after more than 130 students tested positive for COVID-19 and 349 were placed in quarantine.
After one week of classes, the rate of positive cases at the 30,000-student flagship school spiked to 13.6% from 2.8% at the campus health system, a letter from the Kevin Guskiewicz, UNC chancellor and Robert Blouin, provost, said.
Of the 954 students tested this week, 117 have been put in isolation and 349 are quarantined, administrators said.
“So far, we have been fortunate that most students who have tested positive have demonstrated mild symptoms,” the letter said.
As of Wednesday, students will begin online classes and students may move out of the school dorms with no financial penalty, the letter said. Students who have hardships such as those with no Internet service at home or international students will be allowed to remain in the dorms.
Four new COVID-19 clusters were reported in the first week at UNC, popping up at dorms, apartments and a fraternity house, the Herald Sun reported Monday. A cluster is defined as five or more cases in one living setting. The university has reported 324 confirmed cases consisting of 279 students and 45 staff members since February.
No other campuses in the UNC system will be affected, but that could change quickly, administrators said.
“The current data presents an untenable situation. As we have always said, the health and safety of our campus community are paramount, and we will continue to modify and adapt our plan when necessary,” administrators said.
Union employees sued the administration Aug. 10 alleging the university was putting housekeepers, professors and other staff at risk.
The UE150, N.C. Public Service Workers Union tweeted Monday that the university “gambled that they could contain a spread until tuition bills were locked in and lost miserably,” adding that the decision to move classes online came “entirely too late.”
“It is time for an off-ramp,” wrote UNC health administrator Barbara Rimer who noted that after only one week of campus operations, clusters were growing and the university did not have control over the off-campus behavior of some students.
“We have tried to make this work, but it is not working,” Rimer added.
At other universities around the country, students and administrators were preparing for COVID-19 spikes.
At Oklahoma State University, in Stillwater, 23 members of the Pi Beta Phi sorority house were quarantined after testing positive for the virus last week. OSU students were tested before they moved into residence halls and the school found 22 cases, The Daily Oklahoman reported Sunday. Only one sorority resident was displaying symptoms. The entire building will be deep cleaned, the administration said.
“This was expected,” Monica Roberts, a university spokeswoman said. “When you bring back 20,000 students, there will invariably be more cases related to campus.”
She said the university had been preparing for the possibility of clusters of infections for five months. Classes started Monday at OSU.
At the University of North Georgia, social media videos showed off-campus students at a massive party at a private apartment complex in Dahlonega on Saturday night with few wearing masks.
“We are disappointed that many of our students chose to ignore COVID-19 public health guidance by congregating in a large group without social distancing or face coverings,” Sylvia Carson UNG’s director of communications said in a statement. “Everyone has an individual responsibility both on and off campus to follow guidance from the Georgia Department of Public Health and the CDC to prevent the spread of the virus.”
The Big Ten and Pac-12 sports conferences announced that college fall sports, including football, would be postponed nationwide due to COVID-19.
Other public university systems, such as the University of California, have announced that all classes will be taught online at least for the first semester.
