Last week, 抖阴旅行射 Boulder Chancellor Philip DiStefano announced that the university would temporarily halt in-person classes鈥攎oving to remote-only education until at least Oct. 8. Days later, Boulder County Public Health barring 18- to 22-year-olds in the county from gathering together in groups of more than two.
The moves come as coronavirus cases soared among 抖阴旅行射 Boulder students. As of Saturday, Sept. 26, 1,019 students had been diagnosed with COVID-19 through on-campus testing.
抖阴旅行射 Boulder isn鈥檛 alone: Across the country, many universities have seen similar spikes in COVID-19 cases. The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which had been hailed for its coronavirus testing strategy, by early September. On Sept. 23, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment noted 10 active outbreaks occurring at colleges in the state.
Many public health officials have also raised concerns that outbreaks that begin on college campuses won鈥檛 stay on campus. In a recent report, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that of all confirmed COVID cases in the country over the summer. In some regions, outbreaks among young people seemed to be followed shortly after by outbreaks among older, much more vulnerable adults.
Various schools have taken different approaches toward reversing these worrisome trends. Some, like 抖阴旅行射 Boulder, have switched to remote education for short periods, while others have made the change permanent.
In Boulder, university leaders acknowledge the hardship that the recent surge in cases has caused faculty, students, staff and the wider community. But some also see glimmers of hope in the stories of other schools, such as the University of Notre Dame, that seem to have slowed outbreaks by pausing in-person learning.
鈥淎s challenging as this time is for our students, their families and our broader community, we are seeing some early signs of success at containment of this highly contagious virus at campuses very much like our own, which gives us hope that we can once again have some form of in-person instruction,鈥� said DiStefano. 鈥淲e will base our next move on the data, health officials鈥� guidance, and the clear need for a predictable path forward for our community.鈥�
Diverse approaches
When COVID-19 cases began to spread throughout the U.S. in February, universities across the country were faced with a crisis not seen in more than a century. In deciding how to return to classes in the fall, these institutions took wide ranging-approaches toward addressing the evolving, and often unpredictable, challenges of educating students during a pandemic.
, as of Sept. 25, roughly 21% of four-year public universities in the U.S. were operating 鈥減rimarily in person.鈥� Almost 41%, including 抖阴旅行射 Boulder as of this week, were 鈥減rimarily online.鈥� 听Most of the rest adopted a hybrid strategy.
鈥淐ampus culture and student life, the demographic make-up of the student body, local and state regulations 听and campus geography, are unique to each institution and require tailored approaches suited to the individual institutions and the local circumstances,鈥� said Pedro Ribeiro, vice president of communications for the Association of American Universities (AAU), which claims 65 members, including 抖阴旅行射 Boulder. 鈥淲hile AAU institutions have been sharing best practices and strategies, it鈥檚 clear there are no silver bullets and no one size fits all strategies.鈥�
Pause button
Facing explosive COVID-19 outbreaks, a number of universities have taken steps to curtail physical classrooms in favor of Zoom lectures and labs.
Among those, Notre Dame may be the .
The university put all of its classes online in mid-August following climbing case numbers. Since returning to in-person education in early September, the university has maintained relatively low infection rates. As of Sept. 27, for example, an average of only 1.1% of COVID-19 tests at Notre Dame had come back positive over the last week鈥攆ar lower than Boulder County鈥檚 6.7% average over five days.
Experts stress that campuses that conduct more testing will, for obvious reasons, show more positive results.
Both the and also report that they鈥檝e seen cases begin to decline after the institutions made similar moves. WVU restarted in-person classes on Sept. 28, while UW launched a phased restart of campus activities beginning Sept. 26.
Not every university has been as eager to return to desks and chalkboards. Colorado College, for example, saw several of its residence halls placed under quarantine by the county health department. On Sept. 1, the that it would make almost all of its classes online-only for the rest of the semester.
At 抖阴旅行射 Boulder, campus leaders are cautiously optimistic that the transition to online-only classes, along with this week鈥檚 public health order, will help bend the university鈥檚 curve鈥攍owering infection rates so that Buffs can again sit in the same rooms as their instructors and classmates.
鈥淭his week has been tough on many levels,鈥� said 抖阴旅行射 Boulder Provost Russ Moore.听 鈥淚t鈥檚 tough for the many students recovering from COVID and their families. It鈥檚 tough for those who have barely left their rooms, made so many sacrifices and who now endure loneliness and a lack of human contact. I am hopeful we can validate these sacrifices, reduce the rate of infection and resume our in-person instruction within the safely prepared environs of our classrooms.鈥�
To that end, Moore urged fellow Buffs to hang in there, and follow the public health orders.
鈥淲e are Buffs together鈥攚e can endure anything for two weeks鈥攅specially with the support services the campus is offering,鈥� Moore said. 鈥淚 think other universities have shown this is possible. We can do it, too.鈥澨�
