The case of the University of Alabama, in the southeastern United States, was seen as a test for a return to face-to-face education in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Since it reopened, the establishment has recorded nearly a thousand cases of Covid-19.
Since last Wednesday, 566 positive cases have been detected, in addition to the 400 people who tested positive at the start of the school year, according to figures from the university.
A spread not due to student behavior
According to its president Stuart Bell, quoted by the local news site AL.com, the problem does not come from student behavior but from contagions within the population.
"What we need to do is identify the places where the virus thrives, where it is spreading and how we can work with our students, our university and our staff to make sure we minimize these places, these incidents", a- he said.
The town of Tuscaloosa, where the university's main campus is located, announced on Monday that it will close bars for the next two weeks.
Other universities opt for online courses
The university has some 45,000 students on its campuses in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Huntsville.
According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, which tracks 3,000 institutions, 20% of these plan to teach mostly face-to-face, 27% mostly virtually, 15% want to opt for a hybrid system and 24% have not yet announced. plan.
Last week, the University of Notre Dame in Indiana announced that it was taking online classes after experiencing an outbreak of coronavirus, as were the universities of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Michigan State.
Stuart Bell said the University of Alabama was working to contain the spread of the virus but wouldn't say if she was going to take online classes.
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