Harvard is set to reopen for the fall semester, but some or all classes will continue to be held online, according to an open letter by the university's provost Alan Garber. "Harvard will be open for fall 2020," Garber wrote in the email sent to students, warning that the school will not resume all usual activities. "Consequently, we will need to prepare for a scenario in which much or all learning will be conducted remotely." Garber wrote that he hopes to return students to campus as soon as possible, but that the fall semester may start "remotely." Criteria that Harvard is working on includes whether "further waves of outbreak are unlikely," according to Garber's letter. "If our community has not developed sufficient levels of immunity through recovery from the disease or vaccination, and if safe and effective antiviral therapy is not available, we will likely need adequate supplies of personal protective equipment, reliable and convenient viral testing, robust contact tracing procedures, and facilities for quarantine and isolation," Schools around the U.S. are grappling with the question of whether to reopen for the fall semester after classes at most of the country's schools were cancelled in March and moved online in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
