Two Cal State Long Beach students tested positive for the novel coronavirus, officials announced Tuesday, March 24.

Those students are in self-isolation off-campus, according to Dr. Kimberly Fodran, the university’s co-director of Student Health Services.

“While it was to be expected that The Beach family eventually would be affected by this pandemic, we were saddened to hear this news,” Fodran wrote in an email to the campus community. “It is a sober signal that the impact of this illness will be felt widely.”

In one of the cases, Fodran said, the student had not been on campus for two weeks; in the other, “there was no opportunity for on-campus exposure according to public-health officials,” Fodran wrote.

Cal State Long Beach decided to suspend in-person classes amid the pandemic earlier this month. The university also announced last week that it postponed commencement and urged students who lived on campus to move out for the remainder of the semester.

Online instruction for the students began Monday, March 23.

Tuesday’s announcement came the day after Long Beach reported its first death from COVID-19, the disease that is caused by the coronavirus. There have been 28 confirmed cases in the city, but Mayor Robert Garcia has emphasized that because of limited testing, the actual number of cases is likely much higher.

One of the Cal State Long Beach cases was included in the city’s tally Tuesday; the other was not because they are not a Long Beach resident.

“Over the course of the next two-to-three weeks, we’re entering a very critical time for the city and for our hospitals and for our emergency services,” Garcia said Monday. “We are seeing an increase of cases and an increase of people who need medical attention, hospitalization and respirator machines.”