Arizona State University, the University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University all plan to resume in-person classes this fall, their presidents announced Thursday.

ASU President Michael Crow shared the news in a morning email to current and prospective students, noting the evolving "circumstances related to COVID-19" and thanking the ASU community for "the flexibility and resilience you have shown."

He said the would "implement whatever safety measures and health protocols are necessary to keep students and employees safe" upon their return on Aug. 20.

"We will continue to follow the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Arizona Department of Health Services," Crow wrote. "We will communicate to you throughout the summer about how those recommendations may impact future decisions and modifications to campus life this fall."

UA President Robert Robbins announced the Tucson-based university's plans at a press conference after completing a COVID-19 antibody test on campus. He offered more logistical details than Crow, saying UA's in-person classes would operate at 50% capacity so students could distance themselves from each other.

“There’s nothing like — even if we’re sitting 12 feet apart — to be able to have that person-to-person, face-to-face interactions with their mentors, their advisers, their friends and to be part of the campus,” Robbins said.

The university also will encourage face masks and likely hold off on large gatherings, he said. And faculty, staff and students who are older or have underlying conditions that place them at higher risk of infection may stay home and teach or attend classes remotely.

Robbins said the university will follow the plan of “test, trace, treat” to make the campus as safe as possible, providing frequent diagnostic and antibody testing. The school will quarantine sick students in single-occupancy dorms for two weeks and track down others they might have infected.

"There are many factors that remain beyond our control," Robbins said in a statement issued after the press conference. "We are tackling what is within our control to ensure our students have the opportunity for a full on-campus experience."

NAU President Rita Cheng emailed students Thursday afternoon saying the Flagstaff campus was preparing to welcome them back this fall.

"We take this step with the utmost concern for our students' safety in mind, but also with the acute understanding that the severe impact to our economy and the uncertainty that has interrupted our students' lives has reached a tipping point," Cheng wrote.

The university plans to require physical distancing in all public areas and classrooms, and residential and dining areas will have new health and safety protocols. NAU plans to adopt "state-of-the-art testing and contact tracing" as well as isolation when necessary, Cheng wrote.

Cheng wrote it was important for students, as well as the broader Flagstaff and Coconino County communities, that the school reopen soon.

"We are at an inflection point, where the lack of employment opportunities, a sense of personal dislocation and powerlessness, and uncertainty about the future must be addressed — wisely, comprehensively, and, at the same time, with due speed."

ASU, UA and NAU moved classes online in mid-March to minimize the spread of COVID-19, largely leaving food services, health centers, libraries and computer labs open.

This is a developing story.

Reach the reporter at maria.polletta@arizonarepublic.com or 602-653-6807. Follow her on Twitter @mpolletta.

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