Clarendon College is extending spring break, moving most classes online, and canceling spring sports in extraordinary measures to help mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus.
In an emergency meeting of the Board of Regents Thursday night, college officials discussed the pandemic in terms of the safety of students, staff, and the communities CC serves.
Interim President Tex Buckhaults said the meeting was prompted by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which had asked colleges and universities to report their plans for dealing with the outbreak. Buckhaults then presented regents with options ranging from compressing the spring schedule and finishing the semester earlier to not allowing students to return from spring break.
Dr. John Howard addressed the board in his capacity as the Donley County Judge and Emergency Management Director as well as a medical doctor. Howard said there were 23 confirmed cases in Texas of COVID-19, commonly called the Coronavirus, as of Thursday with another 100 people being tested in the state. He said the number of confirmed cases would grow by next week, when Clarendon College will be off for spring break.
“The effort now is to mitigate the spread,” Howard said. “It is spreading now and spreads rapidly. This is a novel virus. There is no immunity.”
Howard said the local community is isolated in its rural setting from the virus that is mostly in metropolitan areas currently, but travelers will be bringing the disease to Clarendon on US 287. He and college officials also discussed that college students who do not currently have the virus may be exposed when they disperse for spring break and then return to campus.
Most people who get COVID-19 may not even know it, Howard said, but it is very dangerous to people with compromised health and threatens to overwhelm the healthcare system if the spread is not mitigated.
“Our concern is not that young people will get this and get sick,” he said. “Our concern is that young people will take it home to grandma on dialysis or uncle with COPD.”
The virus can incubate for two to 14 days before symptoms occur, Howard said, during which time, the person may spread the disease.
“The Spanish flu killed at least 20 million people in 1918,” Howard said. “That was influenza, and we don’t want to see that happen again.”
Following the unanimous decision of the board, Clarendon College students will be on spring break from March 16-27. Students living in the dorms will be told to take their personal belongings home with them. Students who have already left for spring break will be allowed to return for their possessions.
During the break, college faculty and personnel will work to move as many classes as possible online. Some vocational programs may be too hands-on to be moved to online. College personnel urged regents to make the decision to go online sooner rather than later due to the difficulty of moving a class online and training some faculty who have not taught online before.
The college also canceled all spring sporting events. Athletic Director Mark James told the board that baseball and softball students will retain a year of eligibility under the circumstances. Most other sports are finished for the year, although the college rodeo team still had events planned and the men’s basketball team was scheduled to make their first appearance in the NJCAA national tournament next week. Earlier in the day, the NJCAA had postponed that tournament due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19.
Other college related events that have been cancelled are spring graduation ceremonies in May and the spring invitational judging contest scheduled for April 4. The contest regularly doubles the population of Clarendon for the day it’s held. Judging coach Johnny Triechel, however, said restrictions at other universities and school districts may have caused Clarendon’s event to be called off anyway.
The Enterprise will have more information about CC’s decision and other local impacts of the COVID-19 virus in next week’s issue.
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