HARRISONBURG, Va. (AP) 鈥� James Madison University will transition at least temporarily to primarily online instruction after experiencing a 鈥渞apid increase鈥� in cases of COVID-19 among students.
The Virginia school鈥檚 president made the announcement in a letter that was posted Tuesday night.
“As a result of a rapid increase in the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in our student population in a short period of time, the university is concerned about capacity in the number of isolation and quarantine spaces we can provide,” it read.
The letter said in-person classes will shift online no later than Monday, Sept. 7 after consultation with the Virginia Department of Health, by which time residential students will be asked to return home unless they .
Campus officials will monitor local coronavirus case trends for the next four weeks, and later this month will reevaluate whether to resume in-person instruction on or after Oct. 5.
The public school with about 20,000 undergraduate students joins a growing number of colleges around the U.S. that have reversed course or altered plans for in-person instruction due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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