Notre Dame becomes the latest college to shut down in-person classes after 150 students test positive for COVID-19 and Michigan State delays students returning amid fears there could be an outbreak
Notre Dame and Michigan State universities became the latest colleges to move classes online because of the coronavirus on Tuesday as colleges struggle to contain outbreaks and students continue to congregate in large groups without masks or social distancing.
The decisions came the same day a third school in the 17-member University of North Carolina system reported a COVID-19 cluster in off-campus housing.
Notre Dame president the Rev. John Jenkins announced the university's decision to cancel in-person undergraduate classes for two weeks in an address to students and staff.
'It is very serious, and we must take serious actions,' Jenkins said, referring to the news that nearly 150 students had tested positive.
Students wait in line for registration and an identifying wristband after receiving a negative test result for coronavirus while arriving on campus at University of Colorado Boulder on Tuesday
Incoming freshmen wait in line to ask questions at an informational tent. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, many colleges and universities are instituting different strategies this fall semester, with most students living on campus attending all classes with remote learning
Oyeronke Popoola, a 17-year-old freshman from Raleigh, carries some of her belongings as she and other students leave campus just a week after they arrived, following a cluster of COVID-19 cases at The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill
Students wearing masks walk on campus of the University of Notre Dame on Tuesday in South Bend, Indiana
Jenkins said he decided against sending students home after consulting with health care experts. Instead, the university is imposing restrictions on student activity, including limiting access to dormitories to residents and barring students from major gathering places on campus.
Michigan State, which had been scheduled to start in-person classes on September 2, decided to switch to online instruction as a preventive measure amid the ongoing nationwide pandemic, President Samuel L. Stanley said in a statement posted on the school's website.
'It has become evident to me that, despite our best efforts and strong planning, it is unlikely we can prevent widespread transmission of COVID-19 between students if our undergraduates return to campus,' he said.
Tuesday's actions followed the decision by officials of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to switch to remote learning starting Wednesday, as the virus makes its mark on colleges - and college towns - across the United States.
Incoming freshman Jordin Stribling, 18, awaits to load a cart while moving into a campus dormitory at University of Colorado Boulder
Unmasked sudents walk on campus of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana
A student works outside Ehrighaus dormitory on campus at the University of North Carolina
Universities across America are banning 'sleepovers' and parties and threatening students with expulsion for breaking the rules.
Eight members of a Greek chapter house tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.
All close contacts have been advised to quarantine for 14 days.
It some cases it means the entire house is being placed on quarantine.
The University of Texas has banned all parties both on and off campus, warning students that they put 'the health and safety of our community at risk and raise anxiety levels.'
Overnight and daytime guests in the residence halls have also been given a red flag by the university - a similar move to that made by the University of Pennsylvania.
Officials at the Ivy League institution have warned students not to have 'guests' in their 'personal space' on campus and have also 'strongly discouraged' sleepovers off campus during the course of the semester.
Syracuse University has also taken a punitive approach to the COVID-19 rules.
A fraternity was suspended for breaking social distancing rules back in the spring and earlier this month another group of students was turfed out for violating New York quarantine orders.
Incoming freshmen at University of Colorado Boulder are being tested for COVID upon arrival
Social distancing is going to be hard for students on campus, but many classes are now remote
An incoming freshman moves into a campus dormitory at University of Colorado in Boulder
Placards advise physical distancing guidelines due to the coronavirus pandemic while directing incoming freshman moving into a campus dormitory at the University of Colorado
A parent packs a student's belongings at Ehringhaus dormitory following a cluster of COVID-19 cases on campus at the University of North Carolina. The university announced that it would cancel all in-person undergraduate learning starting on Wednesday
Other universities are reconsidering plans to hold in-person classes or implementing new testing regimes. And some are threatening crackdowns on students who get too close with others, in violation of social distancing rules.
UNC-Chapel Hill freshman Mackenzie Holland spent two weeks in her dorm before she found herself moving back out again on Tuesday, after the university canceled in-person classes for undergraduates when clusters of coronavirus infection surfaced among students.
Holland said she sobbed for an hour after learning the news.
'I kind of expected it, but I'm just kind of disappointed in my classmates and the people that are out partying and stuff because now I can't finish my college experience,' Holland said. 'I know that we'll be back one day, but it's just sad right now.'
In the past few days alone, college students at schools in North Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Vermont, Kansas, Colorado and at the Air Force Academy have tested positive, creating a ripple effect that has put hundreds of other students into quarantine or isolation.
Patrons stand on the Bear Trap's rooftop bar on The Strip, the University of Alabama's bar scene. More than 20,000 students returned to campus for the first time since spring break, with numerous school and city codes in effect to limit the spread of COVID-19
A group of unmasked runners can be seen jogging through the University of Notre Dame's campus at the main gate
Freshman Sarah Anne Cook carries her belongings as she packs to leave campus
Some students have decided to pack up and leave the university following cancelled classes
The U.S. leads the world in the number of coronavirus cases, with 5.4 million cases reported as of Tuesday, and more than 170,000 confirmed dead, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
In Chapel Hill, the university on Monday reported a spike in the proportion of its COVID tests coming back positive, prompting the university to move all classes online starting Wednesday.
'We had anticipated and planned for COVID cases on our campus this fall,' UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz told faculty members in a Zoom call Monday. 'However, seeing the COVID-19 positivity rate rise from 2.8% to 13.6% at Campus Health over the past week is very concerning.'
On Tuesday, a smattering of UNC-Chapel Hill students packed up their belongings and headed back home with their families.
Holland said she wants other colleges to learn from the Chapel Hill students who participated in large, maskless gatherings.
Simran Arora, 24, sits on an empty University of Southern California (USC) campus, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease in Los Angeles, California
University of North Carolina students wait outside of Woolen Gym on the Chapel Hill campus as they wait to enter a fitness class on Monday. The University announced minutes before that all classes will be moved online starting Wednesday due to COVID clusters on campus
Students carry their belonging away from Ehringhaus dormitory
Students are seen outside Hinton James dormitory at the University of North Carolina
'A lot of kids our age don't understand the result of their actions, and this is kind of showing what can result of that,' she said.
Officials at UNC´s North Carolina State University in Raleigh said Tuesday that health officials had identified a cluster of COVID-19 cases involving some students in off-campus housing where a gathering was held early this month. They did not say how many people were infected but health officials define a cluster as five or more cases in close proximity or in one location.
The University of Oklahoma is requiring its sororities to recruit new members virtually after learning of students attending large social events without taking precautions against the virus.
Students at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville could face punishments as stiff as expulsion if they host big parties, if they won't cooperate with COVID-19 contact tracing or if they don't complete forms documenting their self-isolation, Chancellor Donde Plowman said in a video conference Tuesday.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced it would shift to remote learning for all undergraduate classes starting Wednesday after reporting 135 new COVID-19 cases in a week
A couple of signs posted outside Hinton James dormitory at the UNC in Chapel Hill requiring students to wear masks
Professor Steven King teaches an interactive media class at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. King taught while facing six students who chose to physically attend, while the majority of students logged-in remotely and could be seen on a screen behind him
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill freshmen, who include Garrett Cline (facing camera), walk past The Old Well as recent graduate Lewis Wagner, left, finishes graduation photos, postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Now campus is closed once again
'I will not hesitate to do that if people, our students, are irresponsible,' he said.
Plowman also noted five cases linked to an off-campus party last week.
Wednesday is the first day of classes at the flagship Knoxville campus. School officials have confirmed 75 active COVID-19 cases there, involving 66 students and nine employees. About 6,500 students have moved in on campus, while another 30,000-plus live off campus.
The campus currently has 270 people in isolation due to contacts, symptoms or positive tests, including 51 students living on campus, Plowman said.
In Ames, Iowa, a retired Iowa State professor wrote in an op-ed to the Des Moines Register that he was alarmed at what he witnessed while driving through the Iowa State campus last weekend.
Students wear masks on campus at the University of North Carolina
A student stands on the balcony of Ehringhaus dormitory at the North Carolina campus
'Hundreds of students, out on the sidewalks, out on the front lawns, out in the street; in some places, sitting in chairs or milling aimlessly or running around and hugging each other because they hadn't seen each other since last school year,' Richard Haws said.
He estimated that 1% of the students were wearing masks.
Meanwhile, the University of South Carolina said it would use saliva tests for students, faculty and staff as part of its plan to reopen for in-person classes on Thursday. The tests, which require a single spit sample, are an alternative to nasal swab tests and typically deliver results within 24 hours.
Students at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill had just over a week of classes before they were moved online from Wednesday
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced it would shift to remote learning for all undergraduate classes starting Wednesday after reporting 135 new COVID-19 cases in a week
Notre Dame becomes the latest college to shut down in-person classes after 150 students test positive for COVID-19 and Michigan State delays students returning amid fears there could be an outbreak
![Notre Dame becomes the latest college to shut down in-person classes after 150 students test positive for COVID-19 and Michigan State delays students returning amid fears there could be an outbreak]()
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