College of Wooster suspends in-person classes
WOOSTER – The College of Wooster is suspending in-person classes for the remaining five weeks of the fall semester to protect students and employees as the campus has “not yet stopped having new cases” of COVID-19 since a concerning spike last week, President Sarah Bolton said.
Extensive testing, contact tracing and quarantining – along with moving classes online last week – have not been enough to halt the flow of cases, she told students in a campus health update Friday.
“We are seeing significant numbers of new positive tests among students daily,” she said. “Of the 613 tests done so far this week, a total of 61 have come back positive so far. All of these individuals have been moved to isolation, and their identified close contacts have been quarantined.”
In a subsequent email addressed to the school's alumni and friends Wednesday, Bolton said, “For two months after students arrived on campus, we were able to operate, teach and learn in person. There were athletic practices (without contact) and the band and the symphony orchestra were each able to perform – at a great distance. Now, however, I write with the sad news that, over the past 10 days, we have experienced significant COVID-19 clusters on campus.“
Despite efforts to return to a more normal experience, she said, the increase in cases sparked the decision “to pivot our instruction to take place remotely and to cease other in-person activities. We are so deeply sorry to have to make this change, but our first commitment is to keep one another – and the larger City of Wooster community – safe.”
The college has been working closely with the Wayne County Health Department and Ohio State University.