Valley colleges cancel study abroad, Fresno State students return over coronavirus fear

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Coronavirus concerns are sending some Fresno State students who were studying abroad home, and canceling the plans of other San Joaquin Valley students hoping to travel in the summer.

At Fresno State, nine of the 21 trips scheduled for the summer have been canceled, according to Scott Moore, dean of Continuing and Global Education. Some were canceled due to COVID-19 concerns, but others because of lower than usual enrollment.

About 650 students study abroad at Fresno State during a normal year, Moore said, and the program is operating at about half its capacity now.

For the spring semester, several students are studying around the world through the University Studies Abroad Consortium.

That means there isn’t a concentration of Fresno State students in any one country, Moore said. The few students in affected countries, such as South Korea, China and Italy, have either been relocated to other programs or are coming home.

“For example, we have two students in Italy,” Moore said. “One is continuing to stay in Italy because their program is not canceled and they’ve decided they wish to stay. We’ve communicated with them their choices. The other one, their program was canceled, and they’ll be returning home on Sunday.”

Moore said he’s part of the risk management crisis team for Global and Continuing Education that is reevaluating student safety.

“We are in touch with every single student,” he said.

Fresno City College and Fresno Pacific University

The State Center Community College District canceled its summer abroad trip to Italy, according to Margaret Hiebert, the coordinator of International Education. The trips to London and Spain are still on for now, she said.

State Center only has summer programs, so no students are currently studying abroad through the college.

A few students who won state scholarships for the 2020 study abroad program will have to switch destinations if they want to use their scholarship, Hiebert said. The deadline to apply for London has been extended to April 17.

“I certainly hope that we can rebuild our program,” she said, “but the most important thing is student safety. We would never send out students if it was unsafe to do so.”

At Fresno Pacific University, the symphonic band was supposed to travel to Tacoma, Washington, on March 18 to perform at a conference. That’s been canceled, according to university spokesman Wayne Steffen.

Instead, the band will livestream its performance to the conference from Paul Shaghoian Concert Hall in Clovis at 10:30 a.m. on March 21.

Business administration graduate students who were supposed to visit Singapore and Malaysia will head elsewhere. Program officials are considering Spain and Morocco, Steffen said.

Fresno Pacific still has summer study abroad programs scheduled for London, Israel and Guatemala.

West Hills College does not have a study abroad program, according to spokeswoman Amber Myrock, and she is not anticipating any travel out of the country.

“We are keeping students informed on prevention strategies and setting up sanitation stations in multiple locations on campus,” she said.

Elementary and high schools

Clovis Unified School District said it is working with the public health department to decide whether to cancel field trips or other out-of-country activities, but had not made any changes as of Friday afternoon.

“We adjusted our custodial schedule by reducing the number of days classrooms and common spaces are vacuumed from five to three days each week. This allows our custodians more time to conduct deep-cleaning and disinfecting of classrooms and common areas,” the district wrote in a letter to parents.

“Additionally, students and staff are strongly encouraged to frequently wash their hands, cover their mouths if coughing, avoid sharing drinks or food, and to stay at home if they are sick. Classroom surfaces and door handles are frequently being wiped down. In athletics, shared team water bottles have been replaced with disposable cups.”

Fresno and Central Unified have not canceled any activities, officials said Friday.

Community events affected

The 33rd annual Kids Day fundraiser for Valley Children’s Hospital was canceled Thursday by hospital officials because of the spread of the coronavirus. The event usually sees thousands of volunteers handing out newspapers and collecting money on street corners.

And at least two Fresno events were canceled as a precaution: Friday’s celebration of the birth of Imam Ali at the Islamic Cultural Center of Fresno and Saturday’s Women’s Heart Fair at UCSF Fresno.

“Other UCSF Fresno nonessential, large public gatherings also will be evaluated,” spokeswoman Brandy Nikaido said.

There have been over 100,00 cases of the novel coronavirus confirmed around the world, mostly in mainland China, according to Johns Hopkins University research. About 3,400 people have died.

This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 5:21 PM.