Notre Dame suspends in-person classes, updates athletics
After a sharp spike in positive COVID-19 test results, released midday Tuesday by the school, Notre Dame announced a two-week shift to online-only classes when University President Rev. John Jenkins made the announcement via YouTube live-stream.
The school also left open the possibility it would halt all in-person classes and again vacate campus, as it did in March.
“We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in your first weeks back on campus,” Jenkins said. “After a .03-positive rate for our testing before students returned to campus, just 33 positives for nearly 12,000 tests. We have now had 147 positive cases at our testing site on campus.
“The spike in cases is very serious, and we must take serious steps to address it. Upon receiving recent results, we began to make plans to send you home and continue instruction online, as we did last spring.”
Notre Dame did announce that athletics teams, most notably football, which was the first group of student-athletes in June to return to campus, could continue to gather as they are subject to “routine surveillance testing may continue to gather for sanctioned activities, according to the established protocol.”
In early March, as the Irish were dismissed for spring break and COVID-19 began to globally bring society to a halt, Notre Dame first told its students to take an extended spring break and then shifted all classes online for the remainder of the spring and first summer semester.
That drastic move, however, is not happening – yet – here at the onset of the fall semester, Jenkins explained, after the Notre Dame community worked closely with St. Joseph County Deputy Health Officer Dr. Mark Fox. Notre Dame students began moving back to campus at the first of August and started in-person classes on Aug. 10.
“With the advice and encouragement of Dr. Mark Fox, we have decided to take steps short of sending students home, at least for the time being, while protecting the health and safety of the campus community,” Jenkins said. “For at least the next two weeks, we will move undergraduate classes to remote instruction, close public spaces on campus and restrict residence halls to residents only.”
Notre Dame officials believe they have isolated more than 100 of the positive cases to off-campus events, and Jenkins further instructed off-campus student-residents to remain off-campus and associate only with their fellow off-campus residents.
Additionally, per University data shared with multiple media, Notre Dame has not seen any of its positive COVID-19 test results require hospitalization.
Previously allowing up to 20 people at gatherings, Notre Dame via Jenkins also revealed it was slicing that number in half and requiring masks --- even for outdoor gatherings. Jenkins also revealed violators could be subject to removal from campus for “serious violations.”
“The objective of these temporary restrictions is so that we can contain the virus and get back to in-person instruction,” Jenkins said. “If these steps are not successful, we will have to send students home as we did last spring.”
