LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The University of Louisville (UofL) is welcoming back students Monday to kick off its spring semester.

Executive Vice President and University Provost Beth Boehm said starting the fall semester was like entering a tunnel, and the spring semester feels like being in the middle of one.

“It’s dark, but we’ve already gotten this far. So the beginning I think is going to be really hard and very similar to the way we ended in that [COVID-19] cases are up around the Commonwealth and the nation, and we are going to have to be vigilant just like we were,” she said.

Boehm said the spring semester will look a lot like fall with UofL following much of the same protocols, but there are some new changes amid COVID-19. 

A big one that Boehm mentioned is contact tracing. She said the university has a new electronic medical platform, which includes an app for students and faculty.

“There was a lot of hard hand work last time for our contact tracers, and I think this time we are going to have tools that enable them to do it better,” she told Spectrum News 1.

COVID-19 testing is still mandated for faculty, staff, and students who are on campus. However, the fall semester only required it in August and October. During the spring semester, it will be every month.

“We had testing available the whole semester, but it was up to individuals whether they wanted to get a test before Thanksgiving, for instance, and then they went home. We encouraged them. We urged them, but we did not mandate it. This time we are having four periods of mandated testing, one each month. So one in January, one in February, March, and then again in April, in order to make sure that we are always on top of the state of the virus in our [campus] community,” Boehm explained.

Vaccines are another change, which is a reason Boehm said the spring semester feels like it’s in the middle of a tunnel since there is light at the end.

Boehm said UofL is already vaccinating faculty and students who work in the university’s clinics or hospitals. 

As more doses become available, she said the plan is to make the vaccine available to all employees and students. 

“It’s an emergency approval so we don’t feel like we are comfortable mandating an emergency approved vaccine, but we’re going to make it available to anybody who wants it, and we are going to encourage that people take it, Boehm said.

Lastly, students now have a deadline, the same date as the last day to drop a class, to let professors know if they plan to only attend classes online for hybrid classes, which are part online and part in-person. Once a student declares they are only taking a hybrid class online, they will not be able to attend the in-class portion. 

UofL’s spring commencement is planned for May 8, 2021, but that could change depending on the pandemic. 

A list of other protocols in place for UofL’s spring semester is here.