University of Wyoming officials, faced with a significant increase in the number of active coronavirus cases among students and staff, will move to online-only classes on Monday, President Ed Seidel announced Wednesday.
Seidel, in a news release, said students will also be encouraged to leave as soon as possible for the Thanksgiving break as they receive negative results from coronavirus tests.
“With our case numbers and test positivity rates rising rapidly, we are taking this action to reduce the risk of students taking the virus back to their homes and infecting family members and others,” Seidel said. “This will allow students to make decisions about when to return home that are best for their families and their individual COVID risk.”
As of Tuesday, there were 337 active coronavirus cases among university students and staff, compared to 174 one week earlier.
The move to online classes actually marks a move to “Phase 4” of the university’s fall semester reopening plan. The change is happening one week earlier than originally planned.
Seidel said university faculty members are being directed to provide online options so students can complete courses and exams if they choose to leave early.
Classes will be taught only online for the remainder of the fall semester and finals will be taken online the week of Dec. 7-11.
Students who need to remain on the university campus beyond Monday will be allowed to do so, Seidel said.
