Many college students in the Boston area are packing up their dorms as they are forced to leave campus mid-semester as their colleges and universities try to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.
Dozens of colleges and universities across New England are closing their campuses and switching to online learning.
Students at Harvard University learned earlier this week of their Sunday moving deadline in a letter from Harvard President Lawrence Bacow. Classes will be taught online until further notice.
"We are making the most of it," said student Hana Tzou, while moving out Friday. "Like, we’re just doing what we can. For moving out."
Harvard announced Friday that two members of the Harvard community were tested for coronavirus, with one testing positive.
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, students and faculty are preparing to move classes online. Students are not permitted to return to campus after spring break and have to move out by Tuesday, March 17.
The school "strongly advises" students to accelerate their moving plans and offering $500 in reimbursements for travel change costs if they move out by Sunday.
"Luckily we are fairly local," said Jonothan Reduker on Friday as he moved his son out of MIT. "But my son has got a lot of friends who are not."
