Officials at Northern Illinois University say that they intend to start in-person classes as scheduled on Monday, but said that there are protocols in place to potentially switch to remote-learning in the event of a surge in COVID cases at the school.
School officials announced earlier this year that students would be required to get vaccinated against COVID-19, along with faculty and staff members.
Any individuals who are not vaccinated will be required to participate in weekly COVID surveillance testing, according to an emailed statement from the school.
If the school’s positivity rate reaches 8% or higher at any time during the academic year, then faculty members will have the option to change their classes to a remote-learning plan, according to officials. That positivity rate will be calculated by the school through the COVID surveillance testing, rather than by using the positivity rate of DeKalb County as a whole.
The school says that the current positivity rate on the campus is just 1% at this time.
Students, faculty and staff members will also be required to wear masks while indoors beginning next week, according to the school’s website.
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