Beginning on Wednesday under state orders, colleges had to move classes online as COVID cases continue to surge in Michigan.
Ben Thorp sat down with Central Michigan University President Bob Davies to discuss how the move will impact students and plans for the spring.
Ben: Obviously we say the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services put out new orders on Sunday and I wonder how much impact those orders are going to have on us here at Central Michigan University. I know the plan beforehand was to have classes pretty nearly wrapped up before thanksgiving.
Bob Davies: Yes one of the decisions we made early on with the return to the fall program was to start classes two weeks early. The thought process at the time was there was a prediction of a second wave, so that’s why we did that. In talking to our students and faculty many of the final exams were already in a remote format. So the disruption and change if you will through that mechanism is not that great for our students and our faculty
Ben: Talk to me about the COVID cases we’ve seen on campus. Last week 9-15 we saw 112, which is I think the highest we’ve seen at Central Michigan University. What do those numbers tell us about campus?
Bob Davies: What the numbers tell us writ large is the pandemic is not over. We need to continue to do everyone we can to slow and stop the spread. It’s also important to note there has been a dramatic increase in Mount Pleasant and Isabella county. When we talk with the director of the health department here the majority of the cases are coming from the off-campus and community area. This is a direct reflection of what is going on throughout the region.