Mocs News Reporting the news that matters most to UTC
Chattanooga, Tenn. – As of Saturday, April 4, according to the Tennessee Department of Health, Tennessee has had 3,321 cases of COVID-19 confirmed. That puts Tennessee 17th in the list of U.S. coronavirus cases by state. The total number of deaths has now reached 53, and the number of recovered patients reached 248.
Thursday, April 2nd, Mayor Andy Berke stated and signed a shelter-in-place order for Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Executive Order 2020-06 instructs that Chattanooga residents must shelter in place, restricts nonessential travel, suspends access to city owned public spaces, and closes all nonessential businesses. In addition, all schools and childcare programs will be postponed.
UTC college student, Lane Anderson stated, “I am beyond happy about this order because I have an autoimmune disease, which makes it easier for me to contract sicknesses. The decision to make people stay at home and close schools could be life-saving to me and many others who are not healthy.”
Chattanooga and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, has closed down and moved classes to online for the remainder of the semester. All events, meetings, and even graduation have been canceled for the spring semester.
UTC senior, Katie Vick, discussed that she is very disappointed in UTC because they are not willing to reschedule graduation for the class of 2020. UTC’s faculty and staff decided this because they want to keep their students and families safe as nobody knows when the pandemic will end.
UTC will suspend in-person classes for the remainder of the semester as well as the summer term. “It’s been heartwarming to see the people buckle down and figure it all out,” said UTC Chancellor Steven Angle.
There have been two confirmed cases of the Corona virus within UTC’s community. Student’s who have been around the patients have been notified so they can get tested.
Student Jordan Smith feels as if UTC should notify the community of the students’ name, so they can be sure they haven’t been in contact with a positive COVID-19 patient.
COVID-19 has resulted Chattanooga, Tennessee and the rest of the world to be affected in so many different ways. Students’ lives have changed over the past couple of weeks due to classes being converted to online.
WATCH LIVE: Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee gives coronavirus update — April 3, 2020
