COVID-19 has significantly disrupted all aspects of life at Carnegie Mellon University, causing students, faculty, and staff to scramble to adjust to this new reality. CMU has already extended spring break to include Monday and Tuesday of next week. CMU should again extend the break to include all of next week to allow students time to move out of their Pittsburgh housing and travel home in accordance with University advice regarding COVID-19. 

Many students are still on their spring break vacations, traveling abroad or within the United States. This makes it difficult to keep up with all the information coming in from the University regarding COVID-19 and to make decisions based on it. This difficulty is compounded for students who have multiple roles on campus, including those with Residential Education, research, work-study, or leadership positions, etc. who must keep up with those communications as well.

Most students are not planning to return to Pittsburgh until this weekend at the earliest. This leaves very little time to pack, book travel, and actually travel. Adding on the financial burden imposed by making last-minute travel arrangements makes this an extremely difficult situation for students. Extending spring break would address these issues.

Furthermore, a lot of information has not yet been released to students, such as class and job structures going forward. Students need this information when making travel plans. It doesn't make sense to book a flight out of Pittsburgh on Wednesday or Thursday only to find out that a class will be meeting online while the flight is in the air. A few more days without classes would give students breathing room to figure out travel and move out plans.  

Everyone is struggling with the effects of this virus, including students and faculty. Faculty have been provided the Monday and Tuesday to adjust their academic plans. Likewise, students need time to prepare for classes, jobs, leadership positions, and travel. Extending spring break through March 20 would alleviate much stress for students and allow them to return to class online feeling prepared and confident.