EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University announced in a tweet they have been notified of the "first confirmed case related to our MSU community". Soon after, all face-to-face classes were moved to virtual learning as of Saturday night and Spring commencement was postponed.
In a statement attached to the tweet, the university detailed their plan to go to 100% online learning is in an effort to safeguard students and staff against the possible spread of the virus.
There is no word yet if the "confirmed case" was a student or staff. The university says they are prepared for an outbreak in the area, assigning doctors and MSU police to respond and coordinate with Ingham County Health Department Officials.
"During this time period, students doing purely remote work should return to their permanent place of residence, and we strongly encourage this because there are advantages for social distancing. But for those not able to go home, we will continue to fully support students in our residence halls and dining facilities." The statement reads.
Campus is still open, but evens with an expected attendance of over 100 people are canceled. All university-sponsored international travel as well as non-essential domestic travel is canceled until April 20th. Anyone looking to travel in-state must get a waiver from the president or vice president if it is deemed non-essential.
The university has also suspended all spring 2020 and summer 2020 Education Abroad.
In-person classes had been suspended for the time-being early in the week, when COVID-19 was first found in Michigan.
The school has also set up a collection of links on their website to kids educated through multi-week break that Governor Gretchen Whitmer enacted in response to the outbreak.