By Madison Hartley
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Multiple colleges, including Ohio State and Stanford University, have cancelled future face-to-face classes until further notice.
Harvard, like many schools, has announced plans regarding campus residents, with University officials announcing “students who need to remain on campus will also receive instruction remotely and must prepare for severely limited on-campus activities and interactions.”
So, where does the University of Arkansas stand as campus operations close on campuses across the nation in prevention of the virus?
University of Arkansas Chancellor, Joe Steinmetz, said the university has a COVID-19 response team “to assist the university’s Communicable Diseases Committee in coordinating activities designed to support our community’s health and well-being and develop contingency plans to limit the impact to university operations should the need arise.”
In addition to the updates and response team, the University issued Study Abroad students at the Rome Center in Italy to return to the U.S. by March 6 after Italy was declared a level three coronavirus warning.
Maggie Remoy, UofA junior who was studying at the Rome Center, said the study abroad students have to self-quarantine for fourteen days.
“We’re supposed to check our temperatures twice a day and report to the CDC if any abnormalities occur,” Remoy said. While in isolation, she said there should be “no physical contact with people who are not possible carriers of the virus.”
The University sent out an email Saturday regarding their preventive actions. Officials advised students to travel with caution and said that
“efforts are being made to assess the university’s readiness to conduct online classes and other efforts related to minimizing the impact to student learning.”
Zac Brown, Assistant Communications Director at Pat Walker Health Center said his hope is that “extreme measures won’t be needed, but being prepared is critical to our response to help slow transmission, should we see it on campus.”
Arkansas is one of the few remaining states that has yet to have a confirmed case within its borders. The UofA has an ongoing coronavirus update website here.