Back to School Will Be Anything but Normal for NH Colleges

Plymouth State University has a plan to bring students back to college at their residence halls and for in-person learning to begin February 1, according to WMUR.

The news outlet reports that nearly 2,300 students will return to class for the spring semester. :

Marlin Collingwood, vice president of communications tells WMUR.com “I feel really good about our ability to bring students back and keep them safe.”

The school has taken many precautions to keep students safe including rapid testing available at the college which students will take once per week.

Students arriving for the new semester must produce a negative test within seven days, the news station reported, and what is helpful is the fact that the school has a small lab on-site that can process around 100 tests a day.

Plymouth State University will continue to monitor the COVID-19 positivity rate on campus and are prepared to make the move to online learning if necessary. If students are still not completely comfortable attending classes in person, Collingwood tells WMUR.com “I’d say 98% of our classes, there is a hybrid option.”

Hopefully, Plymouth State University can hold on and keep the positivity rate low until the vaccine rollout begins that includes college students.

Meanwhile, nearby Dartmouth College is getting ready for the return of approximately half of their students on January 18. According to WMUR, a majority of their classes will be held remotely as the COVID-19 positivity rates in Grafton County are 10 times higher than they were in October.