On Friday, the University of Washington announced it is suspending on-campus class sessions for the time being.
"As a way to increase precautionary health measures, such as social distancing, and ensure the successful conclusion of the quarter for UW students on all of our campuses, as of March 9, 2020, classes and finals will not be held in person for the remainder of winter quarter," UW said in a statement.
The university operates on a quarter schedule, and beginning with the week of Monday, March 9, all instruction will move online, and as will all final exams administered over the week of March 16. Washington will go on spring break the week of March 23, and business as usual will resume with the start of the spring quarter on March 30.
In the meantime, campus will remain open and all Husky athletic events will continue as scheduled.
This applies to Husky football, as Washington spokesman Jeff Bechtold confirmed to FootballScoop on Friday that Washington will continue its winter workouts and spring recruiting as scheduled. Spring football is not slated to begin until April 1.
Having to cancel spring football would be a crucial setback for any football program, especially one breaking in a new head coach in Jimmy Lake and a new offensive coordinator in John Donovan.
(Obviously, we're talking about degrees of scale here. Seattle has emerged as the epicenter of coronavirus in the United States, with 69 confirmed cases and 10 deaths as of Thursday.)
All of Washington's plans are subject to change contingent upon further outbreak of the virus. But then again, that applies to all of us, doesn't it?
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.