UCCS welcomes students back to campus after weeks of remote learning

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- February 22nd is the first day of the spring semester that the University of Colorado Colorado Springs is expanding in-person learning capacities.

However, with spring 2021 enrollment down like it was in fall, the campus still does not look like what it did pre-pandemic.

University officials say faculty still have the option to run their classes remotely or switch back and forth between remote and in-person. As result, campus traffic is not up much from fall.

Students and staff who are returning in-person are still required to wear a mask and fill out an online health screening survey before stepping foot on campus.

Since UCCS is largely a commuter campus, University officials said personal accountability will be key to keep their doors open.

"Through what we’ve observed, there hasn’t been a spread of Covid-19 in our classroom, it’s more so a community transmission of Covid-19,” said Mark Belcher, Interim Director of Communications and Media Relations at University of Colorado Colorado Springs.

The University has done its part to limit the spread of Covid-19 by splitting spring break into two parts, with the first half happening February 17th through 19th, and the last half on March 22nd and 23rd.

Officials at UCCS said the next step for them is making vaccines accessible to their student body.

“UCCS is applying to be a POD, or point of distribution for the Covid-19 vaccine," said Belcher. "We aren’t there yet, but we’re hoping in the near future we will be able to do that and administer vaccines for students.”

UCCS officials said people have been living on campus throughout the entire spring semester. Students were tested before move-in, with only one test coming back positive. They plan on continuing to test students throughout the spring semester.