Harvard moves MBA students back online as Covid-19 breakthrough cases rise
Online classes will be in place at least until October 3 and other students asked to wear masks indoors
Harvard Business School moved all first-year and some second-year MBA students to remote learning this week amid a “steady rise” in breakthrough Covid-19 infections, despite high vaccination rates and frequent testing.
Online classes will be in place at least until October 3 and the school has asked students to eliminate unmasked activities while indoors, Harvard said on Monday in a statement. Harvard is also increasing the frequency of testing to three times a week.
“Contact tracers who have worked with positive cases highlight that transmission is not occurring in classrooms or other academic settings on campus,” Mark Cautela, a spokesperson for the business school, said in the statement. “Nor is it occurring among individuals who are masked.”
The school also asked students to limit in-person interactions with others outside their household, move all group gatherings online and cancel group travel.
Harvard University said on its website that 95% of students and 96% of employees are vaccinated.
Colleges across the US have largely resumed in-person instruction for the autumn term, after shutting campuses in March 2020. The following autumn, several schools became overwhelmed with outbreaks, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and quickly moved to remote learning.
In 2021, colleges haven’t experienced that type of spike as students returned to campuses in August and September. Many are now requiring proof of vaccination.
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