Sean Rayford/Stringer/Getty Images
Students walk on campus at the University of South Carolina, which will open fully in person this fall.
Good news about the COVID-19 vaccine couldn’t have come at a better time for college admissions officers. Dozens of colleges and universities have recently announced that they’ll be open in person this fall after waiting weeks or months to go public with fall plans.
Colleges fall announcements started a few weeks ago as vaccination rates began to pick up, but student inboxes and news sites have been flooded with fall reopening news this month, due in part to the ongoing admissions season. Experts call March and April prime yield season, during which colleges and universities work tirelessly to build a strong incoming class. After a year of exhausting transitions, students are looking for certainty and normalcy, and promising those things could give institutions a leg up as admitted students decide where to enroll.
Thousands of incarcerated people in Virginia’s correctional institutions have tested positive for the coronavirus since March and more than 50 who died also tested positive for the disease.
Virginia s secretary of public safety and homeland security says the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in correctional centers is going smoothly, but some prisoners report harsh conditions and a chaotic rollout as coronavirus cases remain in the hundreds.