GMU hosts in-person classes, opens dorms for fall semester
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| George Mason University [Keith Pham]. |
As George Mason University in Fairfax opened for the fall semester Aug. 24, university officials expect a series of health rules and recommendations will prevent an outbreak of COVID-19.
GMU students can take a mix of in-person, online, and hybrid courses.
When students moved into the dorms at GMU in recent days, they were instructed to complete the Mason COVID Health Check, an online screening tool, every day. Visitors and contractors also are required to complete the survey, which is a first step in detecting early signs of COVID outbreaks.
Dorm residents are required to wear masks outside their rooms. Non-residents are banned from dorms. Elevators are restricted to two people at a time. Separate doors are used as entrances and exits.
The university will convert to all-online instruction beginning Nov. 30, following the Thanksgiving break, to guard against potential COVID-19 and influenza surges.
Other universities in the region are taking a different approach: Georgetown, George Washington, Howard, and American are holding nearly all classes online with no or very limited residential housing open. Marymount University in Arlington is offering a “hybrid flex” model with most instruction online and some face-to-face classes and an online option for students who don’t feel comfortable attending class in person.
Elsewhere in Virginia, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Old Dominion, and Virginia Commonwealth are holding in-person classes. Mary Washington University will have online classes for the first three weeks of the semester.
Northern Virginia Community College, with campuses in Annandale and throughout the area, will offer most classes online but some labs and workforce training courses will have an in-person component.
NOVA invites students who had been planning to attend a college out of state to reconsider: Why pay high tuition rates for distance learning? Students can save money living at home while earning credits at NOVA, then transfer to a university when the pandemic is over.
Finally
Some sense.
Keep wearing masks
Keep social distancing and
lets reopen – reasonable and sensible.