No in-person classes at UC Merced to start fall semester. Merced County reports 119 new cases
UC Merced announced Tuesday there will be no in-person classes when the fall semester begins on Aug. 26 due to the recent surge in coronavirus cases.
UC Merced Executive Vice Chancelor and Provost Gregg Camfield made the announcement in a letter to the university community.
“In consultation with our local public health officials, we now know we will not be able to offer in-person instruction when the semester begins Aug. 26,” Camfield wrote. “The only exceptions are research credits for graduate students who are working under approved research protocols.”
The university had initially planned to offer a small number of in-person classes when the fall semester began.
Now, all courses will be fully remote for at least the first four weeks of the semester. If state and local health officials deem it safe, some courses may be switched to in-person classes at some point during the fall semester.
Latest county numbers
There were 119 new coronavirus cases reported Tuesday in Merced County, bringing the number of residents infected by the virus since the pandemic began to 2,813 total, according to the Merced County Public Health Department.
The number of local deaths on Tuesday remained at 22. There were seven deaths related to COVID-19 reported over the weekend. The number of active hospitalizations by residents also remained the same at 56, according to County Public Health.
The number of active cases, which the health department defines as cases confirmed in the past 14 days, rose from 1,164 on Monday to 1,190 on Tuesday.
The county’s positive case percentage in the past seven days also rose from 14.7% on Monday to 15.8% on Tuesday.
Around the Valley
Fresno County had four more deaths reported as COVID-19 cases grew by 331 to 10,970 cases. Fresno County now has 104 deaths due to the virus.
Tulare County now has 7,120 cases of COVID-19 and 168 deaths, which is 213 more cases and two more deaths than on Monday.
Madera County saw a reduction of its total by 12 cases to 1,439. Despite adding 25 new cases on Tuesday, 37 cases originally counted in Madera were reassigned to other counties, according to health officials. There was no change to the 13 deaths.
Mariposa County reported three new cases late Tuesday to bring its total to 41. One person has died since the beginning of the pandemic.
This story was originally published July 21, 2020 at 6:17 PM.
