University of Missouri temporarily cancels in-person classes amid novel coronavirus outbreak

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The University of Missouri will cancel some in-person classes amid the growing outbreak of novel coronavirus.

In-person classes will be canceled starting at 5 p.m. Wednesday until Sunday, the university said in a statement. Faculty are being asked to put plans in place to teach remotely the following week, which starts March 16. Existing online classes will continue as scheduled.

Spring break happens the next week and in-person classes are expected to resume March 30, after spring break.

The university announced the change late Wednesday afternoon.

All university-related, non-essential travel is suspended until April 12 unless previously approved, the university said in the statement. All non-essential university events through March 29 are also canceled.

The decision was announced after the NCAA said it would hold men's and women's basketball tournament games with only essential staff and limited numbers of family.

The move also came after UM System school Missouri S&T in Rolla said it would cancel its massive annual St. Patrick's Day celebration.

No cases of COVID-19, the disease the virus causes, had been diagnosed on the MU campus as of Wednesday afternoon. However, some students and faculty were told to stay home after attending a journalism conference in New Orleans where an infected person was also participating.

MU spokesman Christian Basi said the positive case at the conference was a factor in Wednesday's decision.

The infected person does not work or study at the university, officials said.

Students on Wednesday said they were surprised by the timing of the announcement, just a week and a half before students leave for spring break.

"I thought it would probably be canceled after Spring Break, due to everyone leaving and coming back and who knows what they're carrying," student Emilie Connors said.

Basi said the school would monitor the latest with the virus during spring break. Administrators and faculty could make the decision to continue online-only classes.

"If anything changes, if anything becomes a concern for us, we have the ability to make a decision to extend this, and we'll make that decision as we get closer to that date," Basi said.

The World Health Organization declared the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic Wednesday. More than 1,000 cases have been confirmed in the United States. Among those, more than 30 patients have died.

One person has been diagnosed in Missouri so far -- a St. Louis County woman who recently returned from a trip to Italy.