All three of Arizona's public universities will conduct classes online for the remainder of the semester, the universities announced Monday.

Monday's change comes after a weekend of intense news surrounding Covid-19, including large-scale efforts to limit social interactions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday that it recommended against events with more than 50 people for the next eight weeks.

UA's webpage with updates on how the new coronavirus, Covid-19, will affect classes and students was updated Monday morning asking students not to return to campus for classes and stating that all spring classes will move online through the end of the semester, starting on Wednesday.

Previously, the university had delayed its start after spring break to Wednesday and said it would conduct classes online until April 6, then reassess.

After UA's announcement, ASU changed its plan as well, as did Northern Arizona University.

Citing new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Arizona Department of Health Services, ASU said it decided to go online through the end of the semester.

"We are already in this mode and off to a great start with more than 14,000 classes being offered online," ASU's Monday update said. "Details on continued online instruction for students will be communicated by faculty directly to students."

Most public events at the universities are also canceled.

The campuses at ASU and UA remain open, and students can still live in the dorms if necessary. Other parts of campus that are open include food services, health centers, libraries and computer labs.

Northern Arizona University confirmed to The Republic that it was going online for the rest of the semester as well.

"NAU is going online through the end of the semester," university spokeswoman Kimberly Ott said in an email.

Grand Canyon University, a private Christian university in Phoenix, said last week that it was moving "all but a few classes" to online-only starting March 23 through the end of the semester.

UA also has told students who live in the dorms not to return to live on campus as long as they have other living arrangements. They can still return to campus to collect belongings. For students who don't have other living arrangements, the dorms and other services like food and health are still open.

Reach reporter Rachel Leingang by email at rachel.leingang@gannett.com or by phone at 602-444-8157, or find her on Twitter and Facebook.

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