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The University send out an update advising students to bring all essential items, including school supplies and books, home with them for spring break. The University temporarily shut down residence halls, and students needed to move out by 5 p.m. on Sunday, March 15, 2020. According to this update, "Residence halls are tentatively scheduled to reopen the weekend of April 10. UW-Madison will make a final decision about reopening by April 6." Keys were turned in before departure back home.
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Due to the rise in COVID-19 cases, Gov. Tony Evers declared a Public Health Emergency. According to the Gov.'s press release, "Just this week, Wisconsin has had 5 new cases of COVID-19 and Illinois and Minnesota have also seen increased cases." The Governor signed an executive order declaring that the Department of Health Services shall take all necessary and appropriate measures to respond to and contain the virus.
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The University of Wisconsin-Madison stated that all students should prepare to resume their studies virtually on March 23. Students were sent home for their spring break with little information about what the rest of the semester would look like. According to the update, "Students will be expected to participate in the classes through alternate delivery. More information will be provided by instructors." Students who were not able to access internet elsewhere were able to stay on campus.
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According to the order, "'Safer at Home' requires Wisconsin residents to stay at home and engage in social distancing; it also closes non-essential businesses and bans non-essential travel and social gatherings." This order was set to be in place from March, 25, 2020 at 8 a.m. to Friday, April 24, 2020. All those in Wisconsin were asked to stay home unless engaging in essential activities, including essential work, seeking medical care, and grocery shopping.
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Chancellor Rebecca Blank announces that the University plans to deliver class instruction in a hybrid model in the coming semester, meaning some classes will be online and some will meet in-person. According to the update, "In short, it won’t be a normal semester next fall." This was one of the first times the students heard plans on class instruction for the upcoming semester.
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This update stated the further plans that the University had decided on for the coming semester. These plans included all virtual instruction after Thanksgiving break, including final exams. Large lectures were to be held online for the whole semester, along with classes that could be easily held virtually. Smaller classes will have the possibility of being in person, held in larger lecture halls allowing students and staff to social distance.
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Public Health Madison and Dane County released a new order requiring face masks in all enclosed buildings where others, not from the immediate household, could be present. This requires that those above the age of 5 must wear a face covering that covers the nose and mouth when in public spaces.
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Chancellor Rebecca Blank announced that the university plans to bring students back to campus on Sept. 2. Along with this, it was announced that those who are working remotely shall continue to work remotely, and those students and staff planning their return to in-person work will be contacted soon. Blank stated, "...we feel it is critical to return instructional activities back to campus where we can do so safely. Similarly, there is important research work that can only be done on campus."
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Chancellor Rebecca Blank sent out an update welcoming everyone back to campus as classes are about to start. She announces that roughly 45% of classes will have some in-person component to them, allowing those students to still gain a hands-on learning experience. According to this statement by Blank, "...we continue to believe that we have a plan in place that allows us to safely reopen for partial in-person instruction until the Thanksgiving break."
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The University put a halt on in-person instruction for two weeks due to the rapid increasing of COVID-19 cases in the area. An update was released stating, "All in-person undergraduate, graduate and professional school group instruction will be paused from Sept. 10 – 25." This caused students and staff to have to make a quick switch, with professors having little time to prepare for this online instruction period.
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Due to the risk of having students travel during their spring break and possibly bring the virus back to Madison with them, the Faculty Senate voted to remove the week long spring break set in place and allow the students a long weekend around that time instead. Due to the increase of class instruction during this time, the students' winter break was extended six days. This allows the days of instruction time during the spring semester to stay the same.
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Following the two-week halt on in-person instruction, some aspects of in-person instruction were allowed to start back up. According to Chancellor Rebecca Blank, "Beginning September 26, we will start to resume campus activity, phasing it in as we continue to track infections." Along with re-starting in-person instruction, campus has taken extra precautions to continue to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including being more aggressive with testing to stop infections in residence halls.
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