After experiencing a major Covid outbreak on its campus, the Harvard Business School (HBS) has decided to close its gates and move all its classes online despite 90 per cent of its students being fully vaccinated.
Graduate students have accounted for most of the recent positive cases at Harvard, according to the university’s COVID-19 dashboard. Over the past 14 days, graduate students have comprised 51 of the 66 positive cases at the school.
Dean of HBS Srikant Datar said that the decision to shut down the school has been taken to protect the interest of Harvard University as a whole and protect its image. He further said that the classes will be held online until the end of October. This change affects almost all first-year and some second-year courses.
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“Our positivity rate is 12 times that of the rest of Harvard. These distressing figures are so high that they have attracted the scrutiny of local public health officials,” Datar said.
The university made its decision after receiving advice from public health officials employed by the city and state, the expose reported.
Mark Cautela, a spokesman for the business school urged the students to avoid social gatherings and instead socialize with family at home and online with friends.
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“In recent days, we’ve seen a steady rise in breakthrough infections among our student population, despite high vaccination rates and frequent testing,” Cautela said in a statement.
“Contact tracers who have worked with positive cases highlight that transmission is not occurring in classrooms or other academic settings on the campus,” Cautela said. “Nor is it occurring among individuals who are masked.”
The HBS further stated that it will increase the number of Covid tests as well amongst the students irrespective of their vaccination status.
Massachusetts has some of the highest vaccination rates in the country, with 77% of its population at least partly vaccinated and 68% fully vaccinated. New cases in the Boston area have been falling since a recent surge peaked in mid-September.
