FAU reaches close to 370 positive COVID-19 cases, tells students that most classes for the spring will have an option to attend virtually

Out of the 369 cases reported, 340 of the total are students and 28 are employees.

Photo+by+Alex+Liscio.+

Photo by Alex Liscio.

Zachary Weinberger, Editor-in-Chief

As of Monday, FAU has reported over 300 cumulative positive COVID-19 cases with a total of 369. When it comes to active positive COVID-19 cases, the amount is at 11 with eight students and three employees.

Within the 369 cumulative positive cases, 340 are students and 29 are employees at the university. 

According to the distribution map provided by the FAU coronavirus updates page, Boca Raton houses the most cases by a wide margin with 97.3 percent and as part of the active cases, all 11 are at the main campus. The next highest percentage of positive cases resides at the Jupiter campus with 1.4 percent. 

Because of the increase in cases at FAU and in Florida, which is over one million, the school has taken some precautions for the upcoming spring semester when it comes to classes. 

On Nov. 25 in an email sent to the FAU community, it talked about the status of in-person classes.

“The vast majority of in-person classes will allow you to attend your classes remotely,” the email read. “Effective today, these classes now have an instructional method of ‘In-person with remote option.’” 

It stresses that seating for in-person instruction is limited because of FAU’s continuation to “follow CDC guidelines in order to accommodate physical distancing.” The announcement also says that the few classes that require in-person attendance will be listed as “mandatory in-person.”

“Fully online and hybrid classes are widely available. Some classes require live virtual attendance (such as a Zoom session) during a scheduled time slot,” the email signed off by the Office of Registrar said. “In other classes, instructors will record their instruction for you to access later. You should consult the course syllabus or contact the instructor for further details.”

FAU has also made revisions to the spring semester schedule which involves the cancellation of spring break. 

Other changes include the semester ending one week earlier and the final day of classes being on April 19 with final exams taking place between April 22 through April 28. Commencement is affected as well as the dates will be moved to April 29 and 30.

With the number of positive cumulative COVID-19 cases approaching 400, here’s a look at other universities in Florida and how the virus has impacted each of their campuses. 

The University of Miami currently has 1497 cases, the University of Florida has 5585 cases, Florida State University has 1814 cases and Florida International University has 240 according to the New York Times U.S. College and University tracker.

The FAU coronavirus updates page tells the students and employees that “if you are feeling unwell, stay home.”

“Students, faculty and staff who are experiencing symptoms of the flu or COVID-19 must contact Student Health Services (561-297-3512) or otherwise seek medical attention immediately.”

The phone numbers for the three clinic locations on each campus can be found here:

  • Boca Raton: 561-297-3512
  • Davie: 954-236-1556
  • Jupiter: 561-799-8678

Zachary Weinberger is the Editor-in-Chief of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @ZachWeinberger.