HARRISONBURG, Va. – After nearly two weeks of temporary online classes, JMU is planning to bring students back to campus soon.
JMU announced on Friday that school officials are currently finalizing plans to resume in-person classes on Oct. 5.
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Students began moving into on-campus housing on Aug. 21 and hybrid classes started on Aug. 26.
However, on Sept. 1, JMU announced that classes were making a temporary switch to virtual, and students were asked to move out of residence halls because of the rapid increase in the number of positive cases of COVID-19 in the student population.
[JMU temporarily transitions to online learning as campus sees ‘rapid increase’ in positive cases]
Now, the school officials say they feel confident that they will have a successful in-person experience moving forward.
In an effort to stop the spread on-campus, the university has implemented various new regulations including a mandatory surveillance testing program as well as an increase in quarantine and isolation spaces.
JMU also said it is limiting the number of students in a class to 50 people for in-person classrooms.
The university contracted a third-party testing company to test 300 non-symptomatic students per week who haven’t tested positive for coronavirus yet in order to get ahead of potential outbreaks. However, testing will be initially focused on on-campus students and they will not be testing students prior to returning to the classroom.
Officials said they have tripled isolation and quarantine beds and will continue to add capacity ahead of Oct. 5.
The announcement also included how the school has been monitoring “problematic behavior” from students leading up to the start of classes. The Office of Student Accountability and Restorative Practices is reviewing over 250 cases ranging from simple compliance concerns to hosting large events.
JMU said there will be more specific information regarding move-in dates and logistics announced before Sept. 25.