TAMPA, Fla. — The University of South Florida shared its proposed plans for reopening campuses on Tuesday, with new procedures including masks in classrooms and social distancing.
Last month, the State University System of Florida's task force presented reopening guidelines for universities. USF uses these guidelines as a blueprint for its own plans.
The detailed plan for USF's campuses will be presented to the Florida Board of Governors for approval on June 23.
"Things will look different on our campuses than they have in the past and we will all be asked to behave in different ways," USF President Steve Currall said in a note to students and faculty.
Some of the new measures proposed to combat the spread of coronavirus on campuses include requiring face masks in enclosed spaces like classrooms, enhancing cleaning of high-traffic areas and following CDC guidance on social distancing and limiting the number of people in certain spaces.
And, those who feel sick must stay home.
"It will be imperative that we all see this as a shared responsibility to adopt these new behaviors for the health and safety of the entire university community," Currall said.
Currall also said procedures for screening, testing and monitoring for COVID-19 will be in place before the start of the fall semester. More details on those procedures will be shared at a later date.
As for classes, USF said it plans to have a "flexibly hybrid approach" with some in-person classes, some fully online classes and other courses with a mix of both. Courses with labs or studios will be prioritized for in-person meetings.
For those living on campus in Tampa and St. Petersburg, residence halls will reopen with restrictions for health and safety. Common areas and lounges will have limited capacity and access hours and the university plans to have restrictions on visitors.
And, USF aims to create isolation spaces for students living on campus who test positive for coronavirus but are not able to safely return home.
Currall said a more detailed reopening plan will be shared once the university gets approval from the Board of Governors.
What other people are reading right now:
- Doctors question WHO announcement on asymptomatic COVID patients
- Coast Guard offloads $408 million in drugs at Port Everglades
- See the Moon, Saturn and Jupiter form a triangle tonight
- Florida police organization posts a job offer for fired, disciplined officers
- Florida sees five straight days of 1,000+ new coronavirus cases
- Florida congressman calls for military training reform after Bradenton soldier dies in South Korea
FREE 10 TAMPA BAY APP:
►Stay In the Know! Sign up now for the Brightside Blend Newsletter