University of Florida will hold in-person classes after considering going online

The University of Florida announced that they will hold in-person classes for the fall semester after considering beginning the term online, the Gainesville Sun reported.

In an emailed statement to the Florida newspaper, university spokesperson Hessy Fernandez said that even though there were discussions about having online classes for the first three weeks of the semester, the university ended up not going that route. 

“The decision was made today that UF will not pursue that option, nor will any other university in the State University System,” Fernandez told the Gainesville Sun. 

Fernandez also said that the university will add some in-person courses to their online sections for students who can not attend school in person, according to the Gainesville Sun. 

The university’s Vice President for Student Life D’Andra Mull had previously sent an email to the student body about the possibility of moving forward with online classes and suggesting that students get vaccinated in order to return to campus, the Gainesville Sun reported.

Florida has become the epicenter of a recent surge of COVID-19 cases in the country, driven by the highly contagious delta variant.

The university’s hospital said Thursday that it is dealing with more young COVID-19 patients than they’ve seen since the beginning of the pandemic, with six of them in the hospital’s ICU units. 

University of Florida’s fall semester begins on Aug. 23, the Gainesville Sun noted.