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UM System To Teach All Classes Remotely Through Spring Semester

The University of Missouri says it is now planning on holding all classes remotely through the end of the semester, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In a statement Friday evening, university president Mun Choi writes all in-person classes at its campuses in Columbia, St. Louis, Rolla and Kansas City will be suspended. Plans for final exams and commencement are still pending. 

Dormitories and dining halls will remain open, as will the university’s libraries, but recreation centers on all four campuses will close.

The announcement comes after both Missouri Governor Mike Parson and President Donald Trump declared states of emergency earlier in the day.
Earlier in the week, the university announced it was suspending in-person classes through the end of spring break.

So far, of the 94 tests the state has carried out, one has been confirmed positive by the CDC, and three more are presumptive positive, pending confirmation.

The university's original decision to suspend in-person classes came after the announcement that someone out of state who attended a journalism conference in New Orleans had tested presumptive positive for the virus. About two dozen MU journalism students and faculty also attended that conference. 

Sebastián Martínez Valdivia was a health reporter at KBIA and is documentary filmmaker who focuses on access to care in rural and immigrant communities. A native Spanish speaker and lifelong Missouri resident, Sebastián is interested in the often overlooked and under-covered world of immigrant life in the rural midwest. He has a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Missouri and a master's degree in documentary journalism at the same institution. Aside from public health, his other interests include conservation, climate change and ecology.
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