News

Update: Cornell Continues Class Changes To Limit COVID-19 Exposure

Published March 13, 2020 at 12:15 PM EDT

Updated: 3/13/20 - 2:40PM

ITHACA, NY (WSKG) - Cornell University will suspend class for three weeks beginning at 5 p.m. on Friday.* This comes after President Martha Pollack announced earlier this week that the school would move all instruction online at the end of spring break to limit potential exposure to COVID-19.

Cornell's spring break was to run from March 28th - April 6th.

All undergraduate and some professional students have been instructed to return to their permanent residencies as soon as possible. The move was made to accelerate social distancing and limit the spread of the virus.

This undated electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health in February 2020 shows the Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, yellow, emerging from the surface of cells, blue/pink, cultured in the lab. Also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus causes COVID-19. The sample was isolated from a patient in the U.S. (NIAID-RML via AP)

There are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at Cornell or in Tompkins County as of Friday. The university's decision was made to reduce the likelihood of bringing disease into the community after the break.

Some students will be permitted to stay on campus with special permission.

Events have been further limited. On Monday, all non-essential on-or-off campus events of 100 or more people were to be cancelled or postponed. Now, smaller events are to be re-considered and postponed or cancelled. When possible events should continue virtually.

All campus tours have already stopped.

Full Disclosure: Cornell is a WSKG underwriter.

*Updated to reflect the latest changes to class schedule at Cornell University.