Inside Higher Ed
by Josh Moody
January 10, 2022
Some institutions that began the semester online are now pushing their return-to-campus dates further out in response to Omicron, citing spiking numbers and breakthrough infections.
Colleges that temporarily shifted instruction online due to the surging Omicron variant of the coronavirus now face the question of when to resume in-person learning. For a growing number of institutions, the answer is not yet.
Eight institutions in the University of California system—Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego and Santa Cruz—all operating remotely, extended those plans to late January, delaying a return to physical classrooms. Duke University and Seattle University, both of which began the semester with online classes, have also announced plans to extend the remote instruction period.
Likewise, multiple schools in the California State University system also announced a late return to in-person classes.