The Ohio State University announced this week that it is canceling on-campus class sessions through the end of March to prevent the potential spread of the Wuhan coronavirus.
According to a local news report, OSU is canceling all in-person class sessions as a precautionary measure against the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus. The university also suspended both international travel for study abroad programs and the majority of university-sponsored domestic travel.
OSU President Michael Drake published a letter this week in which he announced that the decision to shut down the campus was made in order to limit the possibility that the illness could spread.
While there are no campus-associated cases of COVID-19, we know that there are at least three confirmed cases in the state of Ohio, and we expect that there will be more. We are being proactive in an effort to prevent illness and continue the important work of the university. I understand that our policy guidelines will cause measurable disruption, but the risk of not acting outweighs the inconvenience of these temporary measures. The safety of our campus community is always our top priority. Your cooperation and collaboration will help to ensure an appropriate response across our institution to this rapidly changing matter. Thank you for that.
OSU is one of several major institutions to cancel large campus gatherings in response to concerns over the spread of the virus. Breitbart News reported this week that the University of Washington canceled in-person class meetings to prevent the spread of the disease. Harvard University announced on Tuesday that classes would continue online when students return from spring break on March 23.
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.