Salem State Will Return To In-Person Classes Monday

SALEM, MA — Salem State university courses will return to the classrooms beginning on Monday.

Classes were sent remote for two weeks to begin the spring semester amid a spike in coronavirus cases. Presidents John Keenan said in announcing the move to remote earlier this month that it would be at least through Jan. 30 with the anticipation that classes that meet in person would begin doing so the next week.

A school spokesperson confirmed to Patch on Wednesday that will be the case.

"We know that most are eager to resume a sense of normalcy," Keenan said of the delay. "We are, too. But the health and safety of our community must be our top priority."

Students who live on campus were required to provide an isolation or campus departure plan prior to arriving back on campus. Those students who live within 200 miles of the school will be required to leave the campus for their isolation or quarantine should they test positive for the virus.

All students and staff on campus are required to have a coronavirus vaccination and booster shot if eligible.

"Fortunately, our campus has successfully mitigated COVID-19 up until this point," Keenan said. "I am hopeful that these strategies will help our campus community get through this surge as safely as possible and that we will be able to return to more normalcy in the near future."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

This article originally appeared on the Salem Patch