UNC to Pause Classes, Reports More Than 90 COVID-19 Cases in 1 Day

UNC has paused undergraduate classes on Monday and Tuesday of next week as students transition to virtual learning for the remainder of the fall semester.

In a message to the campus community, UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said the university made the decision to allow students to “catch their breath” amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“To our students, we recognize that the past two weeks have been a roller coaster for many of you, especially those who came to Chapel Hill only to experience a growing number of COVID cases on our campus,” Guskiewicz wrote. “Those escalating numbers and the ensuing change of plans created turmoil, and as a result, you are now making significant changes to your daily lives and the plans you had for your semester.”

Undergraduate classes will resume on Wednesday, August 26. Additionally, the university is extending the deadline until August 31 for undergraduate students to drop classes without receiving a “W” mark and have their tuition pro-rated accordingly.

The university also announced that it will implement testing for students and employees in three residence halls — Ehringhaus, Hinton James, and Granville Towers — after additional cases were reported. Testing for students will operate from Friday through Sunday.

Students and employees in the residence halls will receive an email with instructions for the testing process. Campus Health will shift operations through the weekend and focus on mass testing for residence hall students. Previously scheduled appointments through Campus Health will be rescheduled, with priority given to urgent needs.

https://twitter.com/UNCHealthyHeels/status/1296786203375738880

“You have already overcome so much on your academic journeys, and we are proud to have you as part of our University community,” Guskiewicz wrote. “We have successfully transitioned to remote instruction before, and we will do it again.”

This decision from UNC comes as the university is experiencing an outbreak of coronavirus on campus.

Earlier this week, UNC moved all undergraduate courses online for the remainder of the fall semester after 130 students tested positive for coronavirus and four clusters were identified in the first week of classes.

The university also shifted its approach with its COVID-19 dashboard on Thursday, moving from a weekly update to daily. Per the dashboard, 199 students have tested positive for coronavirus since Monday, including 91 alone on Wednesday.

UNC’s dashboard reflects 14.1 percent of coronavirus tests among students have returned positive since the university began testing in February.

UNC Athletics also extended its suspension of athletic activities until Friday after it was originally set to expire on Thursday at 5 p.m. “We will continue to work with the University to evaluate the situation,” said a university spokesperson.

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