OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The University of Wisconsin System expects to reopen its campuses for the 2020 school year. But officials say, things won’t look the same as before.
The UW System is still working to figure out exactly how reopening will look.
University leaders say testing students and staff for COVID-19 is a possibility.
“What test? How much would that test cost? Would it be expensive to administer enough tests in order to be effective? And, so all of those questions need to be asked and answered in time,” said UW-Oshkosh chancellor Andrew Leavitt.
Leavitt tells FOX 11 he supports testing students, faculty and staff every week or two weeks.
“Just so that we can catch people who might be asymptomatic, but have the virus, so they can be isolated and stop the spread of the virus on campus.”
Robert Cramer, vice president of administration for the UW System tells FOX 11 as of right now, nothing is set in stone.
“There is no plan that’s set yet, other than we will be open this fall, delivering education to students and serving the state.”
The UW System is considering several options on how to deliver academic instruction. That could include in-person learning, online classes or some kind of hybrid.
“It won’t look like it normally does, that I can tell you,” said Leavitt.
“We are looking at, at least 15 to 20 different variations of scenarios, and we’re eliminating the ones very quickly that just aren’t practical for us.”
The UW System has also created a new task force to go over different reopening options.
Cramer says University leaders and medical experts are all on the “Plan Ahead Team.”
“Each campus actually has task forces that are working on looking at the campus circumstances and what their plans are, and then we have a group referred to as the ‘Plan Ahead Team’ that’s working to help coordinate and provide guidance across all the campuses.”
This announcement to reopen in the fall comes less than two months after the system moved all students out of the residence halls and switched in-person classes to online.
“The feedback from the students has been they would much prefer to be on campus, and so we want to do everything we can to provide a safe learning experience, and hopefully it will be having as many people on campus as we can,” said Cramer.
Officials say they should have a better idea of how campuses should reopen by late June or early July.
