Dear readers, 

Prior to spring break, we at The Pitt News, along with the rest of the Pitt community, expected to return to campus in mid-March and resume business as usual. 

But since Wednesday, the World Health Organization declared the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic, Pitt announced it was extending spring break and moving classes online for the rest of the semester and the first two confirmed coronavirus cases appeared in Pittsburgh. 

During this time, students are being encouraged to leave residence halls and major events on campus have been postponed or cancelled. Our editorial staff is now spread out across the globe. Because of these developments, The Pitt News has suspended print production for the rest of the semester. We will, however, continue publishing online daily beginning March 16. 

We remain committed to reporting how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the Pitt community, as well as examining other developments relevant to student life. Besides maintaining our usual production schedule digitally, we’re also increasing our e-newsletter output from weekly to daily — consider signing up to stay informed on the latest at Pitt while you’re away. 

Please don’t hesitate to send us questions at [email protected] or submit news tips during this time. We also encourage our readers to submit op-eds and letters to the editor. 

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram while we explore what this uncertain new period means for the Pitt community in the coming weeks. In the meantime, readers can learn more about the coronavirus at UPMC’s Health Beat and view updates from Pitt about University operations here. 

Thank you for reading The Pitt News and remember to take care of yourselves during this unprecedented period in our lives. 

Sincerely,

Janine Faust

Editor-in-chief