bizjournal | The
University of Missouri-Columbia will suspend in-person classes and move
to online instruction starting 5 p.m. Wednesday until March 30 in an
effort to stem the growing coronavirus outbreak, the university
announced.
In-person classes will resume March 30, after spring break, which is set for March 21-29.
An
official with the University of Missouri-Kansas City said in an email
Wednesday that classes would continue as scheduled and are not being
moved online.
"Under the circumstances, however, making preparations to do so if necessary is the prudent course," John Martellaro,
UMKC's director of media relations, said in the email. "We are
providing instruction and resources to our faculty on how to change
in-person courses to online courses if that becomes necessary at some
point."
Effective immediately, all
MU-related domestic and international travel is suspended until April
12, including previously approved travel, according to a university
statement. That travel is canceled regardless of how it was to be
funded.
All nonessential
university events will be canceled until March 29. Small meetings and
athletic events still will be held, and the school will be thoroughly
cleaned and disinfected, the statement said.
There
are no confirmed cases of coronavirus at MU. Last weekend, several MU
students and faculty attended a journalism conference in New Orleans
where another attendee tested positive for the virus.
The positive case
was not part of the MU group, the university announced Wednesday. MU
students and faculty who attended the conference are staying home, and
none have shown symptoms, the university said in a Wednesday statement. The risk of those people developing the virus is low, the statement said.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the University of Kansas had not announced any changes to in-person instruction.
The
state of Missouri has one confirmed case of COVID-19, the disease
caused by the new coronavirus. A St. Louis woman tested positive after
returning from a study abroad trip in Italy.
Washington
University and Webster University, both in St. Louis, also announced
they would move to online classes starting this month, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
