Indiana University will suspend face-to-face classes at all campuses, including IUPUC, for two weeks following spring break over fears of the coronavirus outbreak.
And a short time later, Purdue University followed suit, moving all its courses to online or alternative delivery by March 23 and continuing to the end of the semester, which is May 2.
Starting March 23, all IU courses will be taught remotely via virtual online teaching for a period of two weeks, said Indiana University President Michael McRobbie.
Additionally, residents are "strongly discouraged" from visiting any IU campus until April 5, according to a statement released Tuesday.
No cases of coronavirus, known as COVID-19, have been reported on any IU campus as of Tuesday, although two IU students have self-reported presumptively positive tests for COVID-19 while studying abroad and are currently receiving treatment in their home cities, McRobbie said in the statement.
McRobbie said IU’s plans to resume face-to-face teaching could change with the evolving situation with the virus.
At Purdue, students in residence halls have the option of whether to return to campus or not after spring break. Purdue is suspending all university-sponsored domestic and international air travel through May 2, along with all university-sponsored events involving external visitors through May 2.
Purdue officials said they hope to be able to host commencement but a final decision will be made at a later date. Purdue officials strongly discouraged personal international travel by Purdue students and staff during spring break.
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. also issued a statement about spring break, which begins this week, saying self-quarantine will be required for individuals traveling to countries with a COVID-19 designation of Level 2 or 3. Any BCSC student or staff member traveling on any cruise ship worldwide will also be required to self quarantine for up to 14 days upon return.
BCSC is asking students and staff members to complete a BCSC traveler information form in order to provide information about travel restrictions. For more information, see the statement at bcscschools.org under "spring break travel."
Six cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Indiana since last Friday, according to the Indiana Department of Health.
The two newest reports are from Adams County, in the northeast of the state, and Boone County, just northwest of Indianapolis, the state Department of Health said Tuesday.
On Monday, state health officials announced an elementary school student in the Hendricks County community of Avon, just west of Indianapolis, had a presumptive positive case, as did an adult in northeastern Indiana’s Noble County.
The state’s two other COVID-19 patients were adults from Hendricks County and Marion County. Both of them tested positive for the disease after traveling to Boston to attend a meeting of the biotech firm Biogen Inc. State officials have said several COVID-19 cases have been tied to that meeting.
Two of the six patients are hospitalized and the other four are in self-isolation, the state health department said Tuesday afternoon. The agency said it’s working with local health departments “to identify close contacts of the existing patients and is prepared for the possibility that additional cases may occur."
The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States had increased to 826 as of Tuesday afternoon, and a total of 29 deaths are linked to the virus, The New York Times reported.
More than 115,800 people have been infected worldwide and over 4,000 have died, according to The Associated Press.
Besides temporarily halting face-to-face classes, IU has suspended university-sponsored or affiliated international travel, as well as university-affiliated domestic travel outside of Indiana, through April 5, according to the statement.
Students and faculty returning from countries designated Level 2 or 3 by the federal Centers for Disease Control will be required to undergo a 14-day self-quarantine off campus when they return.
Level 3 countries include China, Iran, South Korea and Italy, according to the CDC’s website. Japan is currently listed as a Level 2 country.
"Alongside our extensive prevention efforts that are already being carried out, it is now necessary to take further urgent, proactive steps to help keep the IU community safe," McRobbie said. "These measures will undoubtedly cause inconvenience and disruption, yet the risks of not acting now far outweigh the foreseeable inconvenience and challenges of these actions."
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Visit president.iu.edu/speeches/statements/2020/03-10-coronavirus-letter to read Indiana University’s full statement.
For information about Purdue, visit https://Purdue.university/covid-19.
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The state Department of Health said it plans to update its new “COVID-19 online dashboard” each day at 10 a.m. to reflect the findings from additional test results. For more, visit: https://on.in.gov/COVID19.
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