As of 9:20 a.m. Friday, March 13, test results show that three Maine residents have tested presumptive positive for the coronavirus. Click here for the latest coronavirus news, which the BDN has made free for the public. You can support this mission by purchasing a digital subscription.

Bates College is moving all classes online, following the lead of public and private higher education institutions that made the same announcement this week.





In an email to Bates students, President Clayton Spencer asked all students to leave campus in the next four days.

Classes will resume online on March 23.

[Here’s what has been canceled or postponed in Maine due to coronavirus]

The announcement came on the same day as the Maine CDC confirmed the second and third presumptive positive test results in Maine for the new coronavirus, known specifically as COVID-19.

“Although healthy populations below the age of 30 — like most of our students — do not typically contract severe cases of COVID-19, young people are highly efficient transmitters of the disease, especially when they live and learn in close proximity on a college campus,” he said in his letter.

“This poses a danger to anyone with compromised health, and especially to the significant numbers of faculty and staff on our campus in higher risk categories because of age or underlying conditions.”

Bates will also not hold on-campus classes for the short summer term in May, according to Clayton’s letter.

Watch: What you need to know about handwashing during coronavirus