Is it reasonable for colleges to offer face-to-face classes in August? I am asking this question as an emeritus professor at Georgia State University (GSU). I was professor of science education at GSU from 1969 – 2002), and have been an emeritus professor of science education since 2003. When I began my career at GSU in 1969, the enrollment was about 10,000 students. Now the enrollment at GSU is more than 55,000. GSU has multiple smaller campuses and the main campus in downtown Atlanta.

Although this article is not specific about what and how GSU should or will carryout its mission to offer undergraduate and graduate program, it will be used as a case for the other 25 University System of Georgia (USG) institutions.

The Case on May 4

On May 4th, 2020, I raised the question Are Georgia’s College and University Counties Safe Places To Open This Fall? My summary to this question was this:

At the top of the post, I said that the question of opening campuses in Georgia would be complicated. These charts indicate that most colleges or universities will have to consider the status of COVID-19 cases existing in their respective locations. There are number of variables to consider. How many people in college locations have been infected? Are the number of cases increasing, level, or decreasing? What is the trend of cases and deaths in each of these locations?

There are other questions to consider. How many students will return to these campuses? For example, UGA’s campus is 767 acres, whereas Georgia State University’s main campus has only 110 acres, with additional acreage on five additional campuses in Alpharetta, Clarkston, Decatur, Dunwoody, and Newton. Can these two institutions provide a safe learning environment and prevent the spread of the virus. Naturally, every campus in the USG will have to do the same.

It seems to me that we need to consider these data. Only today, the CDC released information that was somewhat daunting. An internal government report projected about 200,000 new cases each day by the end of the month. The report, from the New York Times, provides details about the virus’s spread throughout the country. Of particular concern to me was the status of Georgia, as shown in the report.

Hassard, Jack. “Are Georgia’s College and University Counties Safe Places To Open This Fall?” Jackhassard.org, Art of Teaching Science, 4 May 2020, jackhassard.org/are-georgias-college-and-university-counties-safe-places-to-open-this-fall/.

The Case on June 28

Today, the number of new cases of coronavirus in Georgia is rising, not falling. Yet, in less than two months, USG students will be returning to 26 different campuses in the state. More than 300,000 students will be returning. But this is only the state’s public universities. It does not include the 31 private universities enrolling 61,895.

To the right is a graph prepared by Mr. Ed Johnson who has been tracking COVID-19 in Georgia for over three months. In this most recent chart, you will note that for nearly all of April, May and June, cases in Georgia were within expected results shown between the red dashed lines. Then, between June 9 and today, something is happening that has not happened in the last three months. The number of COVID-19 cases are outside expected results. Only on April 7 did the number of cases exceed expectations, until now.

So, now on June 28, we can report that the data show that there is a trend in which COVID-19 cases are spreading and increasing in the state. Although you can’t identify specific counties by examining this chart, you can see that we have a problem. Since the state government “opened” Georgia the virus is spreading. If this trend continues, and we bring more than 360,000 students back to campuses around the state, we need to raise a red flag.

It might not be reasonable to begin face-to-face coursework on our college campuses. How can we insure that the infection caused by COVID-19 will not be brought to the more than 57 campuses around the state? Can safe environments in classroom and dormitories be ensured? How will faculty, staff and students be protected?

I’ll explore these questions in the next post.

In the meantime, what do you think about this?