SEATTLE — Classes at the University of Washington largely returned to in-person on Monday after going remote for the first few weeks of the winter quarter due to the spread of the COVID-19 omicron variant.
UW leadership originally planned for the first week of the winter quarter to be remote across its three campuses. Online instruction mostly continued through January in order to better assess the spread of omicron, give students and staff time to get a COVID booster shot, and reduce disruptions linked to quarantining.
With case counts beginning to decline across the region, the university is also seeing a decline in cases, according to a letter to the community from UW President Ana Mari Cauce. There is "no indication" of transmission in classes that have been meeting in person over the past few weeks during the peak of the omicron surge, according to Cauce. On-campus transmissions have mostly occurred in situations where masks weren't consistently worn, according to Cauce.
"Based on these improvements, we are now ready to welcome our students back to largely in-person classes and experiences on Monday, Jan. 31, as planned," Cauce wrote.
Instructors - in consultation with school leadership - may go back to online instruction for a limited time if there is reason to, such as the need to quarantine. Instructors are also being asked to be flexible with students who miss class due to illness or need to quarantine.
In addition to masks being required inside all University of Washington buildings and facilities, students and personnel must be vaccinated if they do not have a medical or religious exemption. Beginning Jan. 31, the university is expanding its distribution of high-quality masks across its three campuses.
In the letter to the community, Cauce writes, "We wish we could say definitively this will be the last time the coronavirus causes this level of disruption to our lives, because we know the anxiety and other effects that uncertainty causes. While we can't promise certainty, what we can promise is that we will continue to follow the science and be guided by our health experts."