Providence College to Resume in-Person Learning After COVID Outbreak

Providence College hopes to resume in-person classes for all students on Oct. 12, the school's president said.

Before that, the week of Oct. 5 is focused on further extensive testing of the student body, the Rev. Kenneth Sicard said.

He said students who left on-campus or off-campus residences during a stay-at-home period that started on Sept. 17 will be tested prior to returning and again be tested once they are back on campus.

Students will self-quarantine in their residence hall room or off-campus apartment until receiving documentation of a negative test. The college will provide meals to students while they are in self-quarantine, Sicard said. He said students returning from states or territories on Rhode Island's hotspot list must self-quarantine for 14 days.

The college had put a remote-learning plan in place after a coronavirus outbreak affected more than 200 students.

The Rhode Island Department of Health on Friday reported one new coronavirus death and 133 new confirmed cases of COVID-19. The death toll is 1,118, and the number of known cases surpasses 25,000.