Columbia College will return to in-person learning Monday
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Columbia College will return to in-person learning Monday after spending months in a partially virtual setting due to the COVID-19 case increase in Boone County.
College officials announced after consulting with the COVID-19 Task Force, careful examination of data, and in consideration of feedback from faculty, staff and students, that the school has decided to return to in-seat learning.
Students, staff, and faculty will return with COVID-19 mitigation efforts.
Mask will be required inside all school buildings for faculty, staff, students and visitors, starting Monday. Mask requirements will be in effect until at least Feb. 11, when they re-evaluate the cases.
Social distancing is strongly encouraged when possible.
Sam Fleury, Senior Director of Strategic Communications for Columbia College, said the school is strongly encouraging students and staff get the vaccine or booster.
"We want everyone to get vaccinated or get the booster, thats a huge push that we are trying to do try to get as many people vaccinated as possible so we can have a strong semester," Fleury said. "Thats whats been the best tool of COVID-19 and we are going to encourage everyone to get it."
Fleury said to have a successful semester it's going to take everyone being diligent about mask wearing and social distancing.
"It's really going to be about personal responsibility from a masking standpoint to make sure that we're very diligent about wearing masks, diligent about social distancing following the guidelines that we've put in place, that we believe will work," Fleury said.
Fleury said the school has always been effective in keeping the cases low, and its COVID-19 task force feels like now is a manageable time to go back to in-person learning.
"We meet every week and talk about those factors, and then we make recommendations to our leadership team," Fleury said. "It's a constant monitoring of all the factors we can look at, like I said we are encouraged to have people back on campus, it's not going to be without bumps but we believe this is the best for our students to come back in seat."
"In person learning is the best and most effective way of learning for students, faculty and staff from an interaction standpoint from a mental health standpoint," Fleury said.
The college will only host student-focused events like sports or campus tour through the end of February; all external events will be canceled or postponed.
The University of Missouri has continued in-person learning since the summer and there is no mask mandate.
MU encourages students and faculty to wear masks, social distance, and get vaccinations and the booster dose, but it is not required.
MU's coronavirus case data dashboard is temporarily out of service as the reporting of all COVID data has been paused on its website.
The pause is due to the Boone County Public Health and Human Services (PHHS) announcing that they would be changing how they collect and report data on COVID cases in Boone County.
The health department removed reporting all active COVID-19 cases in Boone County and the number of Boone County residents hospitalized with COVID-19 from its dashboard. The update was due to record numbers of cases and hospitalizations in the county.
Stephens College does not require students to be vaccinated, but it does require students to disclose and report their vaccination status. Students are required to wear masks in campus classrooms and meeting rooms.
As of Jan. 25, Westminster College currently has nine active COVID-19 student cases, five are isolated on campus. There were no active employee cases at last check.
Westminster requires masks to be worn in all campus buildings. The school recommends students and staff get vaccinated.
Lincoln University only requires masks in classroom spaces, the rest of the campus is "mask optional."
LU as of Jan. 28, had 16 active COVID-19 cases in students, and five positive employee cases.
