All undergraduate courses are shifting to remote learning effective Wednesday, UNC announced in an email Monday.
Graduate, professional and health affairs schools will continue to teach courses as they are or as directed by individual schools.
The University is also continuing its efforts to de-densify on-campus housing. Students can cancel contracts with Carolina Housing with no penalty, and residents with hardships — such as students without reliable internet access, international students or athletes — will have the option to remain, the email states.
"Carolina Housing will notify our residents with additional information and changes in the coming days," Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and Provost Bob Blouin announced in the email.
This decision comes after the University's COVID-19 positivity rate rose from 2.8 percent to 13.6 percent last week. As of Monday, the University has 177 students in isolation and 349 students in quarantine both on and off campus.
Since Friday, the University has confirmed four clusters of COVID-19, at Ehringhaus Residence Hall, Hinton James Residence Hall, Granville Towers and the off-campus fraternity house Sigma Nu.
"So far, we have been fortunate that most students who have tested positive have demonstrated mild symptoms," Guskiewicz and Blouin said in the email.
Guskiewicz and Blouin said in the email this decision was made in consultation with health officials and the UNC System.
“There are no easy answers as the nation navigates through the pandemic," UNC System President Peter Hans stated in the email via Guskiewicz and Blouin. "At this point we haven’t received any information that would lead to similar modifications at any of our other universities."
