With the Georgia campus largely empty this week as students are on spring break, the main concern for faculty and administrators is the possibility of eliminating in-person classes on account of the unfolding COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
With social distancing becoming necessary, it is possible the university could close for a period of time. In anticipation of this event, the University System of Georgia has produced an online training course called “Rapid Guide to Teaching Online.”
For the time being, however, the university has sent an email to all of its students, faculty and staff stating that the school is planning on resuming normal class operations on Monday, March 16th – the first day back from spring break.
Many schools across the nation have extended spring break and will do way with in-person classes temporarily. Washington, Stanford, Penn State, several Ivy League schools and others have already gone this route. Wednesday, the Florida Board of Governors declared that all public universities in Florida have been directed to transition all in-person classes to online platforms effective immediately, a precautionary step to mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus.
With Georgia’s 15 days of spring practice to begin March 17, culminating with the annual G-Day Game on April 18, contingency plans are being made for the football team. Options include practicing in isolation and playing G-Day in an empty stadium or cancelling the spring season. G-Day, which has attracted huge crowds of up to 94,000 to Sanford Stadium in the Kirby Smart era, has become a tremendous recruiting tool for the Bulldogs. However, with some states, such as Ohio and Washington banning athletic events, it would not be a surprise to see the state of Georgia follow.
Georgia AD Greg McGarity said it will be up to Kirby Smart and his staff on spring practice, due to start on Tuesday.
McGarity also didn’t want to say anything on the state of G-Day, set for April 18, because of how fluid the situation is nationally.
— Seth Emerson (@SethWEmerson) March 12, 2020
On Wednesday, the NCAA announced that March Madness, including the Final Four in April, would be played in empty stadiums. Less than 24 hours later, the Power 5 leagues cancelled their conference tournaments. Following suit were the American, Atlantic 10, Conference USA, MAC, America East, Big Sky and WAC.
After the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, it is increasingly more likely that Georgia will follow in the footsteps of other schools and cancel G-Day or play a controlled scrimmage without spectators.
