In an email to the MIT community President L. Rafael Reif outlined that all classes will be canceled starting next Monday, and that students are discouraged from returning to class after spring break in order to limit the possible spread of coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.

Additional schools are also expected to issue voluntary quarantines. The outbreak is considered a public health emergency by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although no cases of coronavirus have been found on campuses in the United States, school administrations are taking no risks.

As of today, Massachusetts counts 41 confirmed or presumptive cases of coronavirus, 32 of them stemming from a local conference in Boston. President Reif stated in his email that “a recruiter at MIT Sloan was later diagnosed with COVID-19.”

Classes will continue as scheduled for this current week.