Spiking COVID-19 cases spurred all 10 University of Hawaii campuses to move many classes online for the first two weeks of spring semester, though some of the more hands-on courses like nursing and the trades program will remain in person at UH-Maui.

UH President David Lassner announced the change Tuesday and said that only courses that can be “effectively taught online” will be impacted. Most lab sections, clinical experiences, Career and Technical Education shop courses and studios will continue to be taught safely in person with physical distancing, masks indoors, daily health screenings and other preventative measures.

The first day of spring semester classes is Jan. 10. Regular courses will resume on Jan. 24.

“We are not changing course modalities but merely making this adjustment to maximize the safety of our campuses including those who may be returning from another island or farther,” Lassner said in the announcement to students, faculty and staff. “We are disappointed to take this action but believe it is appropriate to protect the health and safety of our students and employees.”

Hawaii is currently averaging 1,417 new daily cases statewide, nearly seven times the 201 cases it was seeing on Dec. 13, according to state Department of Health data as of Tuesday. Every county is experiencing a surge, with Honolulu County averaging the most at 1,216 new cases per day, followed by Maui County at 93 cases, Hawaii County at 72 cases and Kauai County at 36 cases.

Each campus will determine which courses will be moved online based on factors that include COVID-19 conditions in the area, density of student populations in classrooms, the number of students who will be traveling back to campus and instructional needs to keep all students on track to graduate, UH said.

UH-Maui Chancellor Lui Hokoana said Tuesday that “we’re asking instructors to make the call” on whether they can convert to online. Classes that will likely take place virtually include the liberal arts subjects such as English, math and sciences. Courses that will likely continue to take place in person include nursing, dental hygiene and the trades programs. Students meeting face to face will need to physically distance, wear masks and either be vaccinated or have an exemption and undergo regular testing.

Hokoana estimated this would leave about 300 students on campus of the roughly 2,600-student enrollment at UH-Maui.

“I think it was a hard decision, but it’s a decision I think the president needed to make,” Hokoana said. “I think he’s just making it clear that we’re in a pandemic, this is serious, so we need to think about how we’re going to let students come back to face to face, and he left some room for us to do that.”

One thing the pandemic taught them is that just about everything can shift online, Hokoana said. However, it’s still hard for some of the programs that require practicum-based work, and for the students who need structure and in-person learning, such as the freshmen. Given that UH had to switch to virtual learning in the past, the challenge now is less about logistics than it is about fatigue.

“I think it is easier but it’s just about having fortitude, because people are tired,” Hokoana said. “It’s been almost two years now with this uneasiness, not knowing and so forth. . . . We thought we were turning the corner, and just to go back to where we were is just a little bit difficult.”

UH-Maui instructors will be emailing their students directly about how their classes plan to proceed, and the college will soon put updates on its website as well, Hokoana said.

During the fall semester, in-person students either had to be vaccinated or tested regularly for COVID-19. However, starting Jan. 3, all UH students and employees will be required to be fully vaccinated or have a university-approved medical or religious exemption. Those with an approved exemption are required to regularly submit proof of a negative test to the LumiSight UH daily health check app. Students who are 100 percent online are the only exception to the vaccine requirements.

Nursing and dental hygiene programs require vaccination and do not offer exemptions, Hokoana said.

He said that UH-Maui has fewer than 25 exemptions so far.

Hokoana added that according to LumiSight, 93 percent of about 2,600 UH-Maui students and 91 percent of about 400 faculty and staff are now vaccinated. A couple of faculty and staff did resign due to the vaccine mandate taking effect Jan. 3.

To enter a UH campus, individuals must have an all-clear from the LumiSight app, meaning they must have verified vaccination information or an approved exemption and a verified negative test result when they complete the daily health screening. Everyone is also required to wear face masks when indoors and when outdoors near others, UH said.

“We’re going to be in this situation a little while longer, so I think education needs to make some innovative kinds of changes in order to serve the students that need the face-to-face experience, that need some structure,” Hokoana said. “It’s almost kind of reinventing higher education, which is very difficult for us, and then to do it during a pandemic.”

* Colleen Uechi can be reached at cuechi@mauinews.com.