John Carroll University to continue remotely learning for fall semester due to COVID-19 concerns

*Watch Gov. DeWine discussing a new order on school districts reporting COVID-19 cases in the video above.*

UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, Ohio (WJW) — John Carroll University will continue remotely learning and off-campus living through the end of the fall semester.

President Michael D. Johnson announced the decision in a letter to students on Friday.

“After extensive study and consideration, we made this decision based on predictive public health data about the way COVID-19 spreads within residential campuses and their surrounding communities, additional data gleaned from asymptomatic testing of our students, careful benchmarking of best practices and experiences at other universities, and the increase in cases in the State of Ohio among younger adults.”

He also noted statistics provided by Governor Mike DeWine, who said that 35% of COVID-19 cases in Ohio during the last seven days were in the 18-22 age group.

On August 25, the school started testing all residential students and student athletes during phase one of their asymptomatic student testing protocol. To date, they have received test results for 852 students, and while that testing is ongoing, it has so far revealed 26 positive cases in its community, including at least one “cluster” of cases among students living off campus. 

“We are focused on our efforts to bring our students back to campus in January for the spring semester, assuming circumstances allow. We are continuing with the implementation of  health and safety initiatives for this semester and next, including those related to testing, contact tracing, and other health procedures.”

More information will be released next week regarding the availability of access to campus buildings and resources during remote learning this fall.

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