Surges Reported at Minnesota Colleges

Minnesota colleges and universities are experiencing a surge in COVID-19 cases, The Star Tribune reported.

Nearly one in four University of Minnesota students who tested for COVID-19 at the Twin Cities campus last week were positive, according to data published Friday. The data showed 253 student and employee cases.

Classes resume today, in person.

The university’s American Association of University Professors chapter and members of a union representing clerical workers issued a joint statement calling on the university to move all classes online for the first two weeks of the semester. “Students, staff, and faculty are eager to return to campus this spring, but the university must do its part to limit community spread during the coming few weeks,” the statement said.

Minnesota’s private colleges, which are much smaller than the University of Minnesota, are also seeing COVID-19. St. Olaf and Carleton Colleges each reported more than 100 new positive cases over the past two weeks, and the University of St. Thomas reported 131 cases from Jan. 1 to 7.