Ames, Ia- The University of Northern Iowa and Iowa State University will start fall classes earlier and finish the semester before Thanksgiving in an effort to avoid any issues with COVID-19. ISU Extension vice president, and leader of the fall planning committee John Lawrence, says they have a plan for testing and tracing to keep up on any possible COVID-19 cases.
“We’ll be testing all faculty and staff and then the students living in our residence halls. We’re standing up our own contact tracing team here on campus — it will work closely with Story County Public Health — but allow us to much more quickly track down people who may have come in contact with someone who has the systems or tested positive,” according to Lawrence.
Fall classes are scheduled to begin on August 17th and the semester will end the day before Thanksgiving, with classes being held on Labor Day. The University of Northern Iowa will follow the same calendar.
