Samford University has become the first higher education institution in Alabama to move all of its classes online due to the coronavirus.

As of Thursday at 10:00 a.m., there were no confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Yellowhammer State. However, Samford on Wednesday afternoon announced that it “is taking measures to protect the health of its campus community.”

“Samford intends to maintain essential operations through the end of this semester, thereby allowing students to complete the academic work already begun for this term,” a release advised. “Beginning Monday, March 16, all courses will move to online instruction. All employees will continue to work on campus until otherwise notified. Hopefully, on-campus instruction will resume on Monday, April 6.”

The release added, “Students may not return to campus until classroom instruction resumes. Those students living in university housing who need to retrieve books, laptops and other essential items from campus rooms can come to Samford until 5:00 p.m. on Monday, March 16 for the limited purpose of claiming those items and then promptly exiting the campus.”

Specific instruction will follow for student athletes residing on campus, as well as international students residing on campus.

The university has also set up a website specifically for coronavirus response and information. Samford is expected to make a further announcement by noon on Thursday.

“In making these decisions, as well as many others in the days ahead, our intent is to minimize for Samford students, faculty, employees and others their risk of exposure to COVID-19.  These actions by Samford are similar to those taken by many colleges and universities across the country,” the university said.

Stay up-to-date on the coronavirus via the Alabama Department of Health here and find related resources from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) here.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn