Johns Hopkins University will reopen campus for in-person classes and residential living this spring.
Undergraduate students who return to campus for in-person classes and research will take COVID-19 tests twice a week, The Baltimore Sun reported. Students who don’t want to return to campus or are unable to do so may continue taking classes remotely.
The semester will begin on Jan. 25 and students’ week-long spring break will be replaced with five day-long breaks throughout the semester, CBS Baltimore reported.
Johns Hopkins will also require students living on campus to live in single occupancy bedrooms with limited sharing of bathroom facilities, The Baltimore Sun reported. All first-year students who come to campus must live in the dorms.
University leaders will also create a “substantial” number of quarantine and isolation accommodations, according to The Baltimore Sun.
Gatherings of more than 10 people will be prohibited for all students living on and off campus, The Baltimore Sun reported.
The university expects approximately 1,200 undergraduates will return to campus in the spring in addition to the nearly 2,000 students living in surrounding neighborhoods, The Baltimore Sun reported.
Officials wrote in the announcement that COVID-19 transmission rates have remained low among the small number of students living on or near campus this semester, according to The Baltimore Sun.
“To date we have experienced no significant outbreaks among our students in Baltimore, or transmissions among staff in our reopened research labs,” officials wrote.
The university will make a final decision about whether it will move forward with reopening by January, and more information will be provided to students in early December, The Baltimore Sun reported.
Penn announced a similar plan to reopen campus for the spring semester. Penn will delay the first day of classes one week and shorten spring break due to travel concerns. Students living on campus will also be required to live in single-occupancy dorms with limited sharing of bathroom facilities.
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