By Joshua Carlson
Colleges across the country are starting to feel the effects of the coronavirus and Hope College, an institution in Holland, announced Tuesday that one of its students was being tested for the virus.
On March 10, Hope released a statement that detailed they had a student who reported to have, “minimal flu-like symptoms in combination with a possible off-campus exposure to COVID-19.” As a precaution the student is now being isolated and tested. Although not diagnosed as of yet, Hope administrators are playing it safe and taking this situation seriously.
More colleges have also been taking precautions due to the virus.
In addition to the individual at Hope college being tested, Michigan state health officials announced Wednesday, March 11 that Michigan had its first confirmed cases in the East side of the state. Since then officials at The University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Michigan Technological University, and Central Michigan University announced that the schools will be canceling in-person classes and all moving classes completely online.
Ohio State University has also suspended face-to-face instruction, and non-essential events until March 30, and school officials have stated that no new events will be scheduled until April 20. Although there is no reported case connected to the campus, it seems these precautions are being made due to the university’s spring break, and the cases that have been confirmed in Ohio.
Joselle Carrillo, a 20-year-old Ohio State student from Grandville, talked about what her university is doing in response to the coronavirus.
“They are switching classes to virtual learning, and are evaluating different courses such as labs, because we are still on spring break right now,” Carrillo said. “A lot of the classes are going to be doing conference calls and everything virtually.”
Colleges across the nation have also shut down due to the virus, including Harvard, Berkeley, University of Southern California, and Stanford.
The coronavirus can be continued to be tracked at worldometer.com, as the widespread cancellations and new cases are continuing to increase.
