West Virginia University suspends in-person classes for undergraduates

Classes for undergraduate students at West Virginia University (WVU) will move online amid concerns about a recent spike in coronavirus cases, the school announced Monday.

Classes for undergraduates will be canceled on Tuesday and move to an online format throughout Sept. 25. The school said graduate-level and professional courses would continue to be offered in-person during the same period.

The university came to the decision “in direct response to a recent increase in positive COVID-19 cases in students on the Morgantown campus, as well as concern for the probability of increased cases that may arise following several reports of parties held this holiday weekend where groups should have been in quarantine.”

The university enrolls nearly 30,000 students across all its campuses and programs.The state has reported more than 11,500 cases and 247 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

“This pause in face-to-face undergraduate instruction will give us time to monitor the steadily climbing cases of COVID-19,” Jeffrey Coben, associate vice president of health affairs and dean of the School of Public Health, said in a statement.

“There is increasing evidence that crowded indoor gatherings, such as those that occurred over the weekend, can serve as super-spreader events,” Coben said.

WVU is one of several schools that has had to scale back their reopening after seeing spikes in cases, with schools such as the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill opted to move all classes online after attempting in-person courses.