Students at the University of Wisconsin System will return to campuses this fall, according to a Sunday statement.
President Ray Cross said they’re working to reduce risk, since the on-campus experience is what students want.
“At the same time, we must all recognize that our universities will be different this fall than what we’re used to and there will be campus-based decisions on how to best address particular issues,” he said. “But students will be back on campus this fall.”
The UW System also released recommendations for campus focused on public health, personal protective equipment and modifying facilities. They don’t include testing and tracing, which are still being studied.
The recommendations include giving priority access to classroom space to courses that can only be taught face-to-face, such as lab and clinical courses, and considering moving courses with an enrollment of 50 or more online.
Other recommendations include developing attendance policies that encourage sick students to stay home, creating alternatives for at-risk populations and determining isolation and quarantine capabilities.
They also suggested ending in-person classes at Thanksgiving, developing mental health programming and recommending or requiring face coverings.
There were 22,758 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state as of Sunday afternoon. There were 692 deaths.
The number of specimens collected by the National Guard surpassed 125,000 last week. The guard is continuing community testing in Milwaukee and Madison.
As of Friday, teams were testing at Green Bay Correctional Institute as well as doing site-based testing in Cambria and Ripon and community testing in Kenosha and Prairie du Chien.
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