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UC Riverside announced Tuesday, March 10, that winter quarter final exams will not be held in person, that in-person instruction should be minimized for the rest of the quarter, and that instructors should plan for spring quarter to be online only to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus.

While Riverside County and surrounding counties have community spread of COVID-19, no one at UCR has the disease, Chancellor Kim Wilcox wrote in a letter to the campus community.

“However, as local, national and global public health recommendations shift to include mitigation of transmission, we are proactively taking steps that will help to protect the community,” Wilcox wrote.

The spring quarter measures are meant to be temporary, and will be reviewed and updated regularly, Wilcox wrote. Classes are expected to remain online at least through April 3.

Final exams are scheduled to begin Saturday, March 14, and end Friday, March 20. Spring quarter’s first day of instruction is Wednesday, March 25.

The announcement came after an online petition launched Monday, which called on UCR to cancel all in-person instruction through spring break and move instruction online.

By noon Tuesday, more than 6,200 people had signed the petition started by Riverside resident Aram Ayra.

“I don’t want us to get to a point where we’re waiting for the first case to hit campus,” Ayra said. “By that point, it might be too late. How many people did they come in contact with, how many elderly family members or folks with autoimmune diseases are they going to spread it to?”

Concerns that some students won’t be able to access online content or don’t have a laptop are outweighed by concerns about safety, Ayra said.

Within the University of California system, UC Berkeley and UC San Diego announced Monday that at least some on-campus classes would move online.

Decisions at UC campuses will be made on a case-by-case basis, said Stett Holbrook, a spokesman for the office of the UC president.

“Each campus will comply with the orders of its local public health department, which could include various levels of curtailment and interventions,” Holbrook wrote in an email. “These might include social distancing measures, the closure of child care facilities, workplace modifications, temporary suspension of classes, and the postponement or cancellation of public events and mass gatherings.”

Wilcox’s message also included the following:

The campus will not be closed. Most operations will continue, with as many people as possible working from home.

Gatherings of more than 150 people will be canceled, postponed or held online. Gatherings of fewer than 150 people that that can’t be held online or postponed will require approval from the provost and must include measures for social distancing and hygiene.

Athletic events hosted by UCR are set to continue, but officials ask fans to stay home.

Campus tours and visits should be postponed or held online.

Students may choose to return to their permanent homes or remain in on-campus housing.

Other campuses in the state, including UC campuses, have announced they will try online classes to limit the spread of COVID-19. UCR is the first in the Inland Empire to do so, though local colleges have taken other measures.