By: Maria Monteros
Trevecca will be extending spring break through March 17 amid growing concerns of COVID-19 in the Nashville area. Classes will resume online on March 18-30.
Matt Toy, associate vice president of marketing and communications, sent a campus-wide email late Wednesday hours after the World Health Organization officially declares the global coronavirus a pandemic. No student has tested positive for the coronavirus disease.
Trevecca joins the list of colleges in the Nashville area to cancel classes in some form along with Belmont and Vanderbilt University.
“Our decision regarding face-to-face classes and campus operations has not been quick or easy,” Trevecca President Dan Boone said in the email. “The effort underway nationally is to flatten the curve of contagion that has spiked rapidly in other countries. Educational institutions are prime players in the spread of a virus. As members of a global family, we want to love our neighbors by minimizing the spread of the virus.”
University representatives declined to comment on inquiries from the TrevEchoes.
The university postponed all international travels including mission trips and study abroad programs until May. Italy, the center of the coronavirus in Europe, was one of the planned spring break destinations.
As of Wednesday, the Tennessee Department of Health said there are 9 possible cases of the virus statewide, according to the Tennessean. There are two possible cases in Davidson County where Trevecca is located, five in Williamson, one in Shelby and one in Sullivan County.
A live newsfeed on the university’s website advised Trevecca students, who are currently on spring break, to stay home if they are feeling ill or have a fever, avoid coming to campus and notify their professors.
The TrevEchoes will continue to update this story.
