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Coronavirus Outbreak: Pennsylvania Colleges take next steps to keep students and staff safe

Schools across the United States and in Pennsylvania are moving in person classes to be online. This comes as schools try to stop the spread of COVID-19.

PENNSYLVANIA, USA — Colleges across the United States and right here in Pennsylvania are taking the next steps to try and prevent their students and faculty from getting sick. 

Amid the coronavirus break out, more than a handful of colleges in Pennsylvania are making adjustments to their Spring semester. 

Three schools are extending their Spring breaks by one week to deal with the outbreak of COVID-19. Those are -- Bloomsburg University, Gettysburg College, and Dickenson College

Gettysburg College sent out an email to the campus saying, classes are slated to resume on March 23, whether online or in person. This extra week will allow administrators to better understand the virus outbreak and puts them in the best possible position to restart classes on March 23. 

Some schools have taken steps even further canceling in-person classes for the rest of the Spring semester. That includes West Chester University, and Bucknell University

West Chester wrote in a letter to the school's students, parents, faculty, and staff, the university said it will "move to alternate modes of instruction" for the remainder of the spring semester. Faculty will use the next two weeks to prepare their courses for remote delivery before classes resume on March 30, the letter said. West Chester said it will also switch to remote advising and registration for summer and fall terms.

Major universities across the country have also made the switch to online classes -- including Harvard, Duke, UCLA, and Syracuse

Some schools have not made any class cancellations just yet, including-- Temple, Pitt, Villanova, and Penn State. They are monitoring the situation. 

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