Johnson & Wales to move to fully remote classes, tells students to stay at home

Johnson & Wales University is moving all its Providence campus classes to fully remote as of Monday and telling its students to stay at home after a recent spike in positive COVID-19 tests.

The president of the university’s Providence campus, Marie Bernardo-Sousa, said in a message to students that they needed more testing to “better understand the complete picture of the COVID-19 impact on the JWU community” and to “determine next steps.”

Culinary and baking and pastry lab students will have a specific exception for this Monday and Tuesday only, allowing them to attend classes, but they’ll still have to follow stay-at-home procedures.

The plan is to resume in-person classes and campus activities in two weeks, but that will depend on the testing, which will take about a week or two, Bernardo-Sousa said.

The university recently revealed 31 positive tests among students living off campus. That number is now 38, spokeswoman Lisa Pelosi said. JWU students often live in areas also populated by students from Providence College.

PC also dealt with an outbreak — this one of more than 200 people — and had to shift to remote learning. PC hopes to resume some in-person classes this week.

Bernardo-Sousa said in her message that all JWU students who live on campus or who commute to campus will be tested this week, with testing from Wednesday through Friday and beyond if necessary. Students are expected to receive instructions on how to sign up.

Bernardo-Sousa said students will be required to stay at home on campus or in their off-campus homes until the baseline testing is complete. The university also strongly urged students from out of state not to return to their families after they’re tested; people who do leave will have to show a negative PCR COVID-19 test from within 48 hours before they return to their campus or off-campus residence.