KU and UMKC Got ZERO Coronavirus Phuggs For Its Students/Communities

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.