University Of Idaho, With In-Person Classes, Reports COVID-19 Cases, But Not Like In Nearby Pullman
WATCH
The University of Idaho is in its second week of classes – a mix of in-person and online.
On Monday, Aug. 31, the Moscow-based school reported 24 COVID-19 cases. That’s from over 2,300 recent tests on students and staff. Unlike in nearby Pullman across the border, Moscow has not seen a huge spike in cases. Washington State University is responding to a recent surge – more than 300 cases in Pullman in the past 10 days.
Journalist Alexis Van Horn covers the University of Idaho for the UI’s student newspaper, The Argonaut. She says administrators don’t have a publicly announced bar of what might cause them to stop in-person classes this semester, as some other colleges have done.
“There’s no exact metric. They’re saying that they’re monitoring many different factors, including positive test results. But they haven’t said if we hit X number of positives or X number of deaths then we will close. They haven’t said anything like that,” Van Horn said recently on NWPB’s Uniquely NW News program.
The school will go to a fully online model for the rest of the fall semester after the Thanksgiving break.
Van Horn and her colleague at The Argonaut, Brianna Finnegan, were speaking on NWPB’s Uniquely NW News. Watch the full segment above. See past episodes and subscribe on NWPB’s YouTube channel.
Related Stories:
State Says All Washington Public Schools Must Open In Full For Fall, With Masks Required
Washington authorities said Thursday all schools in the state must provide full-time, in-person education for students for the 2021-22 school year and that students and staff will still be required to wear masks.
Context And Clarity On WSU’s Fall 2021 COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement
WSU’s vaccine requirement comes with some major exceptions. Medical and religious exemptions have existed for vaccinations on campus for decades, but this time around, WSU is adding a “personal exemption,” and following that announcement, provided some clarity on exactly what that means.
Some Washington School Districts Are Depending On Federal Relief Money To Pay For Reopening
Without emergency hires, the Moses Lake School District would not have the staffing necessary to comply with the Washington State Department of Health’s reopening guidelines, according to district Superintendent Dr. Joshua Meek. They are essential to the district’s reopening, he said.