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SDSU Brings Back A Small Number Of Students For In-Person Classes

 In this Sept. 2, 2020, file photo, a woman wears a mask as she walks on campus at San Diego State University.
Gregory Bull / AP Photo
In this Sept. 2, 2020, file photo, a woman wears a mask as she walks on campus at San Diego State University.

After more than a month of holding all classes online in response to a spike in COVID-19 cases, San Diego State University on Monday reopened a select few classrooms for in-person learning.

The students now attending the in-person classes represent about 10-percent of the overall student body. And those students will be required to be tested at least once every 14 days and instructors will check the temperature of every student entering their classrooms.

SDSU Brings Back A Small Number Of Students For In-Person Classes
Listen to this story by Joe Hong.

Despite these precautions, one student felt it is still too early to bring more students back to campus.

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“Seeing things were getting a little bit better, I think it might be ideal to hold off a little bit longer than that because if the cases are in fact going down,” said freshman Amy Woods. “They were just starting to get things under control.”

The university has had more than 1,200 positive cases of COVID-19 since the school year started in August. Case numbers began spiking within weeks of starting the school year in late August. Since then, administrators say they have increased enforcement.

“Like colleges and universities across the nation, we face the challenge of maintaining our core mission while protecting public health during a pandemic,” SDSU President Adela De La Torre said in a recent statement. “Our ongoing plan for virtual instruction as the default for the vast majority of courses is aligned with those of peer universities nationwide.”

Corrected: December 11, 2024 at 2:46 PM PST
KPBS is a service of San Diego State University.