In an email to the Linfield community, President Miles K. Davis announced that the four-day pause on in-person activities on the McMinnville campus will end February 2. Normal activities will resume as of Wednesday, February 3, including employees reporting back to their regular duties and offices, and students returning to in-person classes.

Campus activities will return to pre-pause conditions, following all previously established safety protocols for the semester. Community members are still encouraged to wear masks, socially distance, practice extreme caution, follow all health guidelines inside the classroom and out, and wash their hands regularly with soap and water. Non-academic, in-person activities and meetings are still restricted while Yamhill County remains in the “Extreme Risk” category.

The pause was caused by an uptick in positive COVID-19 cases last week. Due to the diligence of the McMinnville community in following established safety and health protocols, however, the cluster of cases was mostly confined to a single residence hall and the numbers remained small.

Linfield’s Student Health, Wellness and Counseling Center continues to work closely with local and state health authorities, who have called Linfield a model for how other universities should handle and communicate about the pandemic.

Hewitt Hall residents will be re-tested Friday morning, and the building-specific quarantine will be lifted pending those results. Campus-wide, Linfield’s quarantine and isolation spaces remain at 37% occupancy.

President Davis reiterated that “while McMinnville reported 11 positive cases among its faculty, staff and students last week, it is worth stating again that this represents less than 1% of our total McMinnville population.”

More information on Linfield University’s COVID-19 policies can be found at linfield.edu/covid