How MA Colleges, Universities Plan To Reopen

MASSACHUSETTS — Colleges and universities will use a four-phase reopening plan to get students back on campus amid the uncertainty brought on by the coronavirus, according to a baseline reopening plan offered Wednesday.

A group of 14 college presidents released "Safe On Campus: A Framework For Reopening Colleges And Universities." It leans on the fact that the majority of people on college campuses are under 30, a group that is at "significantly lower risk of of hospitalization or death of COVID-19." The report acknowledges there are also vulnerable people on campus, but college presidents are highly confident they can put in a plan in place to provide additional safety measures for them.

Testing students, faculty and staff would be a vital piece of getting back to business, but the group said only 59 percent of college presidents surveyed are very or somewhat confident testing protocols and procedures would be in place by fall.

The framework calls for repopulating campuses in phases, monitoring people's health conditions, containing any potential infections and scaling back operations, if necessary. How each college and university does that is largely up to them.

"Higher Ed is not a one-size-fits-all industry," the plan reads. "Leveraging this framework and federal, state and local guidance, campuses will need to make their own tailored plans for safe operations in the face of COVID-19."

Related: Boston College Plans On Reopening In Fall

Now in phase one, higher education is repopulating labs and clinics. A small number of on-campus staff is helping move out student belongings left over from the spring and ramping up some operations.

Phase two will see the return of students to "small, campus-based programs," including programs that involved labs and studios for students who could not finish in the spring.

Phase three would see what the framework calls a "careful, larger-scale repopulation of campuses" which could take place at the start of the academic year. That big step, which would see colleges and universities move adopt social distancing measures, relies on continued progress in public health metrics and sufficient tests, personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies. A mix of in-person and remote learning will be used.

Phase four would be the "new normal," which won't be until there a widely available vaccine or treatment or herd immunity is reached.