Harvard Business School is moving all first-year and some second-year MBA students to online learning amid a “steady rise” in breakthrough cases of the Chinese coronavirus, despite a high vaccination rate and frequent testing on campus, according to a report by Bloomberg.
In response to a rise in breakthrough cases, Harvard will keep the students in remote learning until at least October 3, and will increase the frequency of coronavirus testing to three times per week, the report adds.
In this Jan. 22, 2021, file photo, a certified medical assistant prepares doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. With more than 40 million doses of coronavirus vaccines available, U.S. health authorities said they’re confident both seniors and other vulnerable Americans seeking booster shots and parents anticipating approval of initial shots for young children will have easy access. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
In a Monday email, Harvard has also asked its students to halt unmasked activities while indoors. The school is also asking that students limit in-person interactions with others outside their household, move all group gatherings online, and cancel group travel.
“Contact tracers who have worked with positive cases highlight that transmission is not occurring in classrooms or other academic settings on campus — nor is it occurring among individuals who are masked,” Harvard business school spokesperson Mark Cautela said in a statement.
On its website, Harvard University notes that 95 percent of its students and 96 percent of its employees are vaccinated against the Wuhan virus.
Many universities across the U.S. have returned to in-person classes for the fall semester after mandating their students get fully vaccinated against the Chinese virus. Several schools have even threatened to punish students who do not comply with vaccine requirements.
Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, for example, said it would fine and cut the internet access of non-exempt students who fail to show proof that they have gotten the jab.
The University of Michigan has punished hundreds of students for missing mandatory coronavirus tests by deactivating their access cards to nonresidential buildings. Cornell University has also said that students would lose access to campus Wi-Fi, course materials, and facilities for missing virus tests.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.