Cuomo Says Colleges Must Temporarily Move To Remote Learning If Covid-19 Cases Spike

TOPLINE

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) tightened already prohibitive public health regulations for colleges and universities Thursday, announcing if a school has 100 Covid-19 cases or an outbreak equal to 5% of the campus population, it is required to transition to remote learning for two weeks while the situation is evaluated.

KEY FACTS

key background

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Notre Dame and University of North Carolina Charlotte and other schools moved to remote learning after there were Covid-19 outbreaks in Greek houses and residential halls. Schools including Columbia, Princeton University, Johns Hopkins University, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Howard University, Loyola University Maryland and Smith College all changed plans and moved to fully remote learning before the start of the fall semester. 

tangent

Students and parents have protested tuition prices at colleges and universities that have moved to mostly or exclusively remote learning for the fall. Although some schools have offered discounted tuition, most have resisted arguing that remote learning and other public health measures are making their operations more expensive, according to the New York Times. Some colleges and universities have added new Covid-19 related fees to help cover the extra cost of testing and necessary campus changes. The fees range from $50 to $475 a semester, according to the New York Times.

Surprising fact

Less than a quarter of America’s 5,000 colleges and universities are committed to providing instruction primarily or completely in person, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

big number

431,340. That’s the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in New York since the start of the pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

further reading

Columbia Announces Undergrads Will Study Remotely, Latest College To Reverse Course (Forbes)

Outbreaks Hit Fraternities, Sororities And Dorms As College Parties Resume (Forbes)

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