Pitt Greensburg lowers risk level as covid-19 rates in region decline

Officials at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg campus have set the stage for more in-person classes.

Beginning Monday, the official risk status at the Hempfield campus will be lowered from elevated to guarded, Pitt Greensburg President Robert Gregerson announced. The change means professors will have the option of returning to campus to teach classes that are currently being offered online. Students will still have the option of taking all classes online or returning to the classroom, if that is available.

The decision to begin reopening the campus follows state Department of Health reports tracking covid-19 rates at their lowest levels since October and finding a 50% reduction in new cases over the last month.

Pitt Greensburg is operating on a limited status with dorm capacity at about 50% and only a handful of classes offered in person. There are no positive covid-19 cases on campus and no students in quarantine or isolation, Gregerson said.

“I am confident that our campus is ready to make this move. I am very proud that you — our students, faculty and staff — have been steadfastly compliant with the established safety protocols, and I believe that this has played a large part in our low case numbers last fall and so far this spring,” Gregerson said in a letter to the campus community.

Last year, Pitt established operation guidelines for three risk levels: high risk, elevated risk and guarded risk. High risk, the top level, calls for the suspension of campus life activities and almost all classes to be taught remotely; elevated risk bars large, in-person lecture classes and caps gatherings at 25 people; guarded risk, the lowest level, permits most classes to be held in person and allows gatherings of up to 250 people.

Although Pitt Greensburg is moving to the lowest risk level, a university spokesman said the university’s Oakland campus continues to operate under elevated risk protocols.

Gregerson reminded Pitt Greensburg students, faculty and staff that guidelines for masks and social distancing remain in place.