The semester is officially at midterm. As students frantically prepare projects, study for tests and continue with their daily lives and busy schedules, COVID-19 remains a very real threat to the campus community.
Campus cases, however, are relatively low. According to a campus-wide email last Friday, only seven total confirmed cases have been detected on campus.
President Kevin Brown is optimistic about continuing the current semester in-person with the same restrictions in place.
“Our biggest goal is to keep active cases of COVID-19 low so that we can continue to be together as a campus and provide an Asbury experience—albeit modified—to our student community,” said Brown.
Cases are currently much lower than anticipated, reports Brown.
“I knew we would do well, but we have done better than I initially imagined,” said Brown, “I think the planning team has done an amazing job of planning for the semester, and I think our students have embraced our planning steps in a responsible manner. We see the fruit of these efforts in our low COVID-cases.”
Possibility of a spike in cases is currently not a worry, reports Dr. Brown.
“Our aim is to stay on campus,” said Brown. “There would have to be a significant spike in cases for us to consider other options. We all play a role in making sure that is not a bridge we need to cross.”
Current guidelines are still in place, and there is no need for any other restrictions to be in place.
“I would say that our current guidelines are sufficient for us to maintain safety and go about our semester in a somewhat regular fashion,” said Brown, “so we will not become more restrictive, but we may emphasize our safety standards at certain times as students may experience caution fatigue.”
While students continue to practice social distancing, mask-wearing and good hygiene, Asbury’s campus will continue on into the second half of the semester.
“Since last March, we have sought to make decisions, as best we can, in tandem with the information that is provided to us,” said Brown, “information about COVID, information about cases on our own campus. We make decisions in tandem with this information so we do not unnecessarily commit ourselves to rules, practices, or decisions that would unnecessarily take away from the student experience. Put differently, as best we can, we have approached COVID-19 in a student-centric way.”
The semester will continue on with in-person and HyFlex classes with the hopes that COVID-19 cases stay relatively low in the coming weeks.
