BLUEFIELD, VA (WOAY) – Students attending Bluefield College are transitioning to online classes for the remainder of this week.
There are 21 positive cases of COVID-19 at Bluefield College, with 44 additional students being observed while they await test results. Rebecca Casey, an official with the college, says the decision to move classes online was made after unofficial campus gatherings and general community spread happened after the Labor Day Weekend, which caused a spike in cases.
“After the Labor Day Holiday, we decided to do rapid testing, which confirmed some positive cases on our campus. And our leadership decided to move to a second virtual instruction for the remainder of this week,” Casey said.
This past Monday was when the college decided to move all classes online. And this Tuesday, September 22, is when the students will begin doing that remote learning. And they’ll be attending class online at least until this Sunday when the college re-evaluates the situation.
“Sunday we are going to make the re-evaluation on what next week will bring. If students can start going to classes in person, as well as sports activities.”
During this week of online learning, the college will examine if any further community spread is happening, and will continue to monitor the symptoms of those that tested positive and were exposed on campus.
This isn’t a new situation for Bluefield College. At the start of the semester they had a similar week of online learning following a small spike in cases.
“We had one week where we did, at the start of the semester. From what we can tell, it went well. Just because we had those protocols in place. So we’re going to see what the next week brings.”
There are roughly 500 students attending on campus at Bluefield College this year.
