BREAKING: All courses will be offered online for the spring 2021 semester, according to an email sent to students from administration officials.This decision does not determine whether more students will be allowed to live on campus. 

In the email, Interim Provost Russell Pinizzotto and vice president of university real estate and facilities management Laura Brink Pisinski called this decision a “proactive step to prepare for the worst case.” They also noted that there is still a possibility that there may be in-person classes offered if the community transmission rates, hospitalizations and test availability numbers improve in Massachusetts.  

Pinizzotto and Brink Pisinski made it clear that this decision is separate from the decision of whether to allow more students to live on the residential campus. Currently, there is a limited number of students living on campus for academic or personal reasons.

The announcement comes as case numbers in Massachusetts continue to rise. The total number of positive cases in Massachusetts is now over 140,000, according to data published by the Massachusetts Department of Health on October 18. In the email, Pinizzotto and Brink Pisinski  cited a Department of Public Health statistic that Boston is one of the 63 Massachusetts cities and towns considered high-risk for COVID-19 transmission.

This is a developing story and will be updated.