As of Monday, the university has confirmed 324 total cumulative positive cases of coronavirus since February 2020, including 279 cases among students and 45 among staff, according to The Hill.
Today’s announcement was made just one week after classes began for the school’s 30,000 students. UNC is one of the country’s largest universities to open their campus for in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement issued on Monday, the university said: “just the past week (Aug. 10-16), we have seen COVID-19 positivity rate rise from 2.8% to 13.6% at Campus Health. As of this morning, we have tested 954 students and have 177 in isolation and 349 in quarantine, both on and off campus.”
“Some universities are already battling Covid outbreaks, including the UNC at Chapel Hill — where 4 viral clusters have emerged one week after in-person classes started — and Oklahoma State University, where a single sorority house has 23 confirmed cases” August 17, 2020
Because of the rise in cases, the shift from in-person undergraduate learning will commence to remote learning on Wednesday, the university said. Courses in the graduate, professional and health affairs schools will “continue to be taught as they are, or as directed by the schools,” reports CNBC News.
While the university did not say how long the remote learning would last this semester, they did say they would cancel residence hall reservations without penalty.
CNN is reporting that Oklahoma State University also reported clusters of new cases among students this weekend, and social media videos at a University of North Georgia off-campus housing complex showed a massive party with few wearing masks.
“We are disappointed that many of our students chose to ignore Covid-19 public health guidance by congregating in a large group without social distancing or face coverings,” Sylvia Carson, UNG’s executive director of communications, told CNN in an email.