Pitt announces no in-person classes until at least Sept. 14

Provost Ann Cudd said in a Wednesday afternoon email that there will be no in-person classes on Monday, extending online learning until at least Sept. 14 to allow for all students to start in-person classes at the same time.

“This adjustment to the schedule will allow for the completion of staged arrival and shelter-in-place procedures so that all students can start in-person classes at the same time,” Cudd said. 

University officials said at the end of July that they could not commit to a specific or estimated date for when fall classes will move from online only to in person, after originally saying in-person instruction could begin Monday.

In-person instruction can only begin once Pitt moves into the lowest, Guarded Risk posture of its three-tiered reopening system. The Oakland campus is currently in the middling Elevated Risk posture, which requires nearly all classes to be online-only.

To accommodate for both modes of learning, Pitt introduced Flex@Pitt. This model allows students to experience classes “in person, remotely, synchronously or asynchronously,” and does not require faculty to teach in person. It has also asked all students to shelter-in-place for seven days before and after arriving on campus, planned testing of students to monitor the virus’ spread, required students, faculty and staff to complete COVID-19 training and imposed strict penalties for health guidelines violations.

Pitt added 14 new COVID-19 cases, composed of 11 students and 3 employees, as of Monday’s weekly case report. The University has had a total of 42 students and 23 employees test positive since June 26, with 32 students and 19 employees recovered thus far.

The case report is the first since students began to move into on-campus housing last Tuesday. Students will continue to arrive in 1,500 increments throughout August. The University has implemented a systematic, random testing strategy, where it will test about 500 students each week.