CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Some Colleges and universities across the Carolinas are responding to a historic surge in COVID-19 cases by starting their spring semesters virtually.
Johnson & Wales University, Queens University, and Clinton College in Rock Hill join UNC Charlotte in beginning their spring semesters remotely.
Johnson & Wales announced late Wednesday evening all in-person classes will begin remotely on Jan. 10 and remain virtual until Jan. 24. In-person instruction will resume Jan. 24.
All courses with a lab component, including the College of Food Innovation & Technology, labs and applied food science labs will start on Jan. 18. This also applies for science courses with a lab component.
All unvaccinated students, faculty and staff will be required to participate in weekly testing until Spring Break.
Residential students in lab classes should still plan to return to campus on Jan. 9 and participate in on-campus testing on Jan. 10.
The new move-in date for residential students in academics is Saturday Jan. 22 or Sunday, Jan. 23.
York Technical College in South Carolina also announced on Thursday that most Spring 2022 classes that begin on Monday, Jan. 10, will move to an online format for the first two weeks of the semester.
The delay for in-person classes is an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19 during this surge.
Kiara Davis, a public health graduate student, is preparing for classes to start virtually at UNC Charlotte on January 10.
“Now that it's virtual for the first two weeks, we'll see how long that lasts," Davis said.
The university said undergraduate and graduate classes will be virtual until January 24th. The school is also asking anyone who is eligible to get a COVID-19 booster shot. Without a booster shot, the student or staff member must participate in re-entry testing and ongoing mitigation testing similar to that of unvaccinated individuals.
South and North Carolina have continued to break one-day records for the number of people testing positive for COVID-19.
RELATED: North Carolina sets another COVID-19 case record with over 20,000 new cases reported Wednesday
UNC Charlotte still has a mask mandate in place for all students and staff regardless of vaccination status. Anyone found in violation can be reported for disciplinary actions by the university.
Contact Shamarria Morrison at smorrison@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.