SAN ANTONIO — Following in UTSA's footsteps, Alamo Colleges announced Thursday afternoon it would shift to remote learning for "most courses" for the first two weeks of the fall semester when it gets underway on August 23, citing the COVID-19 infections surge.
"Our campuses are open now, they will continue to be all the way through the fall semester, but (being) mindful of delta we would like to ensure that everyone has a safe, virtual start," Alamo Colleges Chancellor Mike Flores said.
Essential student support will still be available on campus. That means libraries and tutoring, student advisors and welcome center staff will be on campus. The institution is also requiring all on-campus employees to be tested weekly for the coronavirus, including student workers.
"We will continue to monitor the situation and make adjustments as needed based on the risk level in San Antonio," Flores said.
The plan is for widespread on-campus instruction to resume Sept. 7, but that's dependent on local COVID-19 numbers.
"We'll look at the incidence rate of COVID within the community," Flores said. "We'll be mindful of direction from Metropolitan Health and of course the Centers from the Disease Control."
On Wednesday, UTSA officials said they would transition most courses to online learning for the first three weeks of the semester. As far as public school districts, NEISD said it was providing the option of virtual learning for immunocompromised students.
As of Thursday, more than 257,000 Bexar County residents have been infected with COVID-19, while more than 1,200 are hospitalized.