NEW ORLEANS — Loyola University New Orleans students return to in-person classes this January.
As COVID-19’s Omicron variant shuts down restaurants and events across New Orleans, Loyola will shift back to virtual classes to start their upcoming semester.
All classes will be held virtually until at least Jan. 31. University President Tania Tetlow announced the decision in an email to students on Dec. 30.
“Our medical and public health advisors estimate that the spike here in New Orleans may peak the week of January 10th, and hopefully decline as dramatically as it went up,” Tetlow said. “For that reason, we are going to start our semester virtually, until at least January 31st. We cannot fully predict events ahead, but that is our best estimate of when we will be able to begin on-campus learning, which we are determined to do.”
That includes all undergraduate, graduate and law school classes except for graduate counseling clinical work and undergraduate nursing, which have in-person clinical requirements.
Tetlow said the decision to go virtual was made so that students and faculty “who will inevitably be stuck or in isolation” can continue classes if they’re up to it. It will also give people the choice not to travel during what may be the peak of the latest COVID-19 surge.
Students will be allowed to return to residence halls but must produce a negative covid test before moving in.
“I want you to know that we are determined to go forward with on-campus classes as soon as we can. We will continue to mask, to keep spread out of the classroom – which worked even during the omicron surge we experienced in December. With booster shots, we can return to a level of vaccine protection much closer to what helped us do so well last fall,” Tetlow said.