

Columbia University announced Sunday night it canceled classes for Monday and Tuesday and plans to hold remote lessons for the rest of the week after a member of its community was quarantined following exposure to the novel coronavirus.

Why it matters: The Ivy League school is the latest educational institution to suspend in-person classes and move studying online in response to the outbreak as the virus continues to spread across the U.S., which now has more than 500 cases, per data from Johns Hopkins and state health departments.

What they're saying: U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams told CNN earlier Sunday that it was time to think about canceling large gatherings and closing schools "to prevent more deaths" as the U.S. moves into a "mitigation phase."

The big picture: Schools across Washington state, one of the areas worst hit by the virus, began to close at the start of this month. The University of Washington announced Friday it was moving classes online in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19. Seattle University and Northeastern's Seattle campus have also moved to remote classes.

Elsewhere in the U.S., schools and colleges including Vanderbilt University in Tennessee and the University of California, Los Angeles have stepped up measures to combat the threat of the virus.

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