POMONA, Calif. (CNS) — Cal Poly Pomona Monday became the latest university to announce it is temporarily shifting to remote instruction to begin the spring semester due to surging COVID-19 cases.

According to University President Soraya M. Coley, the first three weeks of the semester, which begins Jan. 22, will be held remotely. In-person instruction is scheduled to resume Feb. 12.

"We held out hope that we would be able to kick off the semester in a primarily in-person modality," Coley wrote in a campus email. "We anticipate that 70 percent of our classes will be in-person for the spring semester. Truly, so much of the Cal Poly Pomona experience depends on the opportunity to engage directly with one another. That said, our ongoing commitment to health and safety necessitates the temporary delay in our in-person teaching and learning."

All eligible students and staff will be required to receive a COVID vaccine booster shot to take part in in-person classes once they resume, per a California State University policy.

Various other universities have also opted to temporarily shift to remote learning to begin classes, including USC, UCLA, UC Irvine, Cal State Long Beach and Cal State Los Angeles.