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 The university's chancellor said in a letter to students posted on
the campus website that classes would be held online going forward,
along with academic support services. Aug. 11 was the first day of
the new academic year.
The decision came after the COVID-19 positivity rate - the
percentage of those tested who had infections - went from 2.8% to
13.6% at the campus clinic, Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said in the
message.
"So far, we have been fortunate that most students who have tested
positive have demonstrated mild symptoms," Guskiewicz said.
Other colleges, including the University of Southern California in
Los Angeles, began the fall semester on Monday with all classes
conducted online.
Nationwide, new cases of COVID-19 fell for a fourth week in a row
but infections remain at high levels in many states and deaths
continue to average 1,000 per day. More than 30 states have test
positivity rates over 5% and Mississippi, Nevada, Florida and Idaho
are over 16%.
New York, once the epicenter of the coronavirus in the country, has
an infection rate below 1%, along with Connecticut, Maine and
Vermont. New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday that
gyms could reopen from next week.
In total, over 170,000 have died in the United States from the
disease, according to a Reuters tally.
(Graphic: Tracking the novel coronavirus in the U.S. - https://tmsnrt.rs/2w7hX9T)
'NOT HESITATE TO QUARANTINE'
Nationwide, many elementary, secondary, high schools and colleges
scheduled to begin the new term in August or September have imposed
"remote learning," as teachers unions opposed in-class instruction.
A school district in Arizona canceled its plans to reopen schools
Monday after a number of teachers called in sick.
"Every single one of us wants to go back to work," said Marisol
Garcia, vice president of the Arizona Education Association. "We
want to be in a classroom, we want to be in front of our kids, we
want things to go back to normal. But that school that parents want
to send their children to does not exist yet," she told Reuters.
[to top of second column] |
(Graphic: Where coronavirus cases are rising in the United States - https://tmsnrt.rs/2WTOZDR)
In Georgia, a third high school in Cherokee County has closed for in-person
classes, the county's school district said, citing an increase in the number of
positive cases and nearly a third of students under quarantine. The district
said in a statement on Sunday it was postponing the planned start to in-person
classes from Monday to Aug. 31.
Cherokee County schools were featured in the national media this month after
students posted images on social media showing pupils massed together in
hallways, many of them not wearing masks.
Georgia's new cases are down slightly from their peak but the state reported
over 20,000 new infections last week and a 12% positivity rate, which suggests
more undetected cases in the community.
A Nebraska school district said on Saturday it had canceled classes after three
staff members tested positive and 24 more were in quarantine for exposure.
Officials at a school district in Oklahoma learned that one high school student
attended the first day of classes on Thursday, even though the student had
tested positive and had not completed the 10-day quarantine.
"Upon speaking with the student, they said since they were asymptomatic then
they believed their quarantine period was five days," Dawn Jones, public
information officer for Moore Public Schools, told Reuters. The parents
apologized for the misunderstanding.
(This story corrects title of Arizona teachers' union official in 11th
paragraph)
(Reporting by Gabriella Borter in New York and Nathan Layne in Wilton,
Connecticut; Writing by Lisa Shumaker and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Rosalba
O'Brien, Bill Tarrant and Sonya Hepinstall)
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