WACO, Texas — The spring semester at Baylor University may begin on a fully remote and online basis, according to an update posted by University President Linda Livingstone Tuesday.
The move would be in response to the growing number of COVID-19 cases primarily driven by the Omicron variant.
In addition to the possibility of remote learning, Baylor announced a series of potential actions the University may take before the spring semester begins.
Those include requiring students who live in residence halls to test within 24 hours of returning to campus; continuing the campus face coverings requirement for at least the first two weeks for all classrooms and labs; maintaining mandatory testing for unvaccinated students but with the addition of mandatory surveillance testing for 10% of all students, faculty and staff for at least the first two weeks of the semester. The full list of potential actions can be found here.
"Obviously, our strong preference is to begin the spring semester and related activities as initially planned and as scheduled," Livingstone wrote. "Several projections indicate that Omicron will have spiked and potentially receded by late January, right after our scheduled start of the semester."
The university has a call center for questions that is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The number is 888-218-2158. It will be closed on New Years Eve and Jan. 3. Questions can also be emailed to coronavirus@baylor.edu.