The University of Arkansas System is prepared to move classes fully online should any of its campuses need to close because of the coronavirus outbreak, trustees learned at a special meeting Thursday.
President Donald Bobbitt also announced that testing for the new virus, which causes the illness covid-19, will be covered with no out-of-pocket costs for more than 35,000 employees and dependents on the system's health plan.
"We certainly don't want anyone who feels they've been exposed to this to be inhibited from testing," he said. "That's how we prevent the spread."
At a meeting detailing contingencies if the virus arrives in Arkansas, UA chancellors and Bobbitt described plans to use web-based learning, if needed, to limit transmission and continue the semester.
It would be challenging, they said, but an existing virtual learning system and processes hashed out during recent mumps infections at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville would facilitate classes.
Thus far, no cases of covid-19 have been confirmed in the state, according to the Arkansas Department of Health. Two people are being tested, and 64 others who traveled to affected areas are being monitored for symptoms.
The epidemic originating in Wuhan, China, has sickened almost 100,000 worldwide. Patients have been diagnosed with the illness in neighboring Texas and Tennessee, as well as other states, and 11 U.S. deaths had been reported as of Thursday afternoon.
If a case connected to a UA campus is discovered, decisions about temporarily closing that school and moving to remote classwork will be made with the guidance of state health regulators, Bobbitt said in an interview.
"The thing that makes it difficult, in a college campus, is that we have residence halls that have more than one person staying in a room. ... We might teach general chemistry to hundreds of students at one time," the former chemistry professor said.
"There are many opportunities for personal exposure, which are just a consequence of the normal workday at an academic institution."
The system also is in negotiations with an online university about absorbing students in the event of an emergency, though no contract has been signed, and Bobbitt said that school asked not to be identified.
Seven universities, seven two-year colleges and several affiliate organizations are in the UA System. Its flagship university in Fayetteville alone has more than 27,000 students.
At Thursday's meeting, trustee Stephen Broughton asked chancellors about plans related to intercollegiate athletics in light of the unfolding situation.
No decisions have been made, UA-Fayetteville Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz said, but Southeastern Conference schools are conferring and have talked about the possibility of holding coming tournaments without audiences.
That approach mirrors a move by the Italian government this week that bans fans from sporting events until at least April to curtail the virus's spread, according to Associated Press reports. That country is a hot spot of infection in Europe.
Forty-six students and faculty members at UA's Rome Center in Italy have been called back to the U.S. because of federal travel guidance related to covid-19, Steinmetz said. A handful of others in South Korea, China and Japan have returned for the same reason.
He said planned travel to countries that have Level 2 or Level 3 designations by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been called off or postponed, and UA officials are reviewing CDC recommendations to suspend all international student travel.
They have urged faculty and staff members working abroad to consider returning to the U.S. for logistical reasons (such as ease of returning to the country), as well as because of health risks, Steinmetz explained.
"This is a very fluid situation we're keeping an eye on," he said.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Chancellor Cam Patterson and UAMS Medical Center CEO Dr. Steppe Mette recounted some of the health sciences center's ongoing preparations for potential illness cases.
They advised people not to visit UAMS patients if they aren't feeling well themselves, and explained that people in academic programs won't handle any suspected cases of covid-19.
"Our learners, our students, are not going to be involved in the care of those patients," Patterson said.
Metro on 03/06/2020