In a matter of days, the COVID-19 outbreak has upended life on campus and throughout the District.

The United States now leads the world with more than 137,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus – including 342 cases in the District – according to data from Johns Hopkins University updated Sunday afternoon. To curb the spread of the virus, officials have cleared out GW’s campus, pushed classes online for the rest of the semester, told employees to work remotely and shuttered residence halls.

One student, who lives off campus, has tested positive for COVID-19, officials announced on March 18. There are no other known cases among students, but health care professionals working in the University’s medical enterprise have tested positive for the virus.

The Hatchet has published more than 75 articles tracking the effects of coronavirus at GW and in the District. Here’s a look at the biggest impacts of the virus so far:

Student life
University President Thomas LeBlanc announced that students will take classes online for the rest of the semester on March 16, extending the original two-week suspension of in-person classes following spring break announced on March 10.

Just six days earlier, on March 4, Columbian College of Arts and Sciences interim Dean Paul Wahlbeck instructed CCAS faculty to prepare for the possibility of moving classes online “should that become necessary” but said he had no information to indicate such a move was “imminent.”

Two days after announcing the move online for the remainder of the semester, officials announced that most undergraduates could elect to take their classes on a Pass/No Pass grading scale after a petition requesting the option garnered nearly 5,000 signatures.

Administrators required students to vacate their residence halls by March 20 at 5 p.m. unless they met one of six exceptions, like financial hardship or paid employment, and relieved resident advisers of their duties at the start of spring break.

Thousands of students applied to remain on campus, but officials said earlier this month they expected to accept a maximum of 1,200 applications. Students approved for housing over the initial instructional continuity period must now depart by April 5 unless they meet “extraordinary circumstances.”

Officials are refunding students a portion of their housing, dining and parking costs once they leave campus. A professional moving company will pack and store students’ belongings until the fall for free, officials announced March 27.

All student organization activities and on-campus events have been suspended for the remainder of the semester. Student Association elections were delayed two weeks and will be held April 8 and 9, and candidates have resorted to campaigning online.

Officials canceled in-person Commencement ceremonies in May, vowing to celebrate graduates virtually, and announced a week later that the Class of 2020 would be able to join the in-person ceremony held on the National Mall next year for the Class of 2021 after more than 6,000 people signed a petition calling on officials to reschedule the ceremony.

Major buildings like the Marvin Center and Gelman Library were closed to the public on March 20 until further notice. Administrators have scaled back Colonial Health Center operations to urgent and sick patients only, canceled all ongoing counseling appointments and closed the Mount Vernon Campus health center as most students vacated campus.

The Atlantic 10 scrapped all spring competition on March 12, and coaches have resorted to scheduling online video chats with their athletes.

Faculty and staff
As cases of COVID-19 grew, officials restricted all non-essential, GW-affiliated international travel on March 5 until July 1. Officials later encouraged faculty and staff to delay or cancel all non-essential domestic travel starting March 11 to avoid contracting or spreading the virus.

As classes transitioned online, faculty worked to move their curriculum to a virtual setting, and many attended workshops about online resources. Science and arts faculty who teach courses with hands-on labs and activities said they have needed to modify their courses and integrate video submissions to manage the change.

All faculty and staff, except certain designated on-site employees, began working remotely March 16.

Officials said employees who cannot fulfill their responsibilities remotely will be assigned new duties, and all employees will continue to receive pay. Students employed through federal work-study will continue to receive wages for the hours they would have worked through May 2.

Provost Brian Blake said on March 25 that tenure-track faculty will be able to request a one-year extension of their tenure clock in the wake of the virus. Officials implemented a hiring freeze and suspended most capital projects, excluding some “strategic projects” like the Thurston Hall renovations, the same day to maintain financial liquidity to continue day-to-day operations.

The GW Hospital suspended elective surgeries starting March 16 to allocate more resources for patients experiencing symptoms associated with the coronavirus. The hospital was struggling to obtain enough tests to screen patients for COVID-19 as of earlier this month.

Multiple providers in GW’s medical enterprise, which includes the hospital and the Medical Faculty Associates, have tested positive for the virus.

The District
Since Mayor Muriel Bowser confirmed the first case of COVID-19 in the District on March 7, the number of cases has grown to 342 in just three weeks, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Bowser declared a state of emergency and a public health emergency on March 11, which allows her to order mandatory medical quarantines and ban price gouging, as cases quickly piled on. She also pulled permits the same day for large public events, like the Rock and Roll D.C. Marathon and the Scope It Out 5K, and encouraged the postponement of all mass gatherings.

Many D.C. landmarks and sporting venues have closed to the public, including the White House, the Capitol Visitor Center, the Smithsonian Institution museums, the National Zoo, the Capital One Arena, RFK Stadium and the Kennedy Center.

On March 12, organizers canceled all in-person National Cherry Blossom Festival events through the end of March and later extended the cancellation for the entire festival. The next day, Bowser banned all mass gatherings of more than 250 people as part of efforts to encourage social distancing.

She has since taken more aggressive measures to curb the spread of the virus, like shuttering all non-essential businesses and closing the National Mall and Tidal Basin to prevent crowds from gathering to view cherry blossoms in the area during peak bloom.

Metro ridership has dropped by more than 90 percent, and Metro’s CEO has encouraged riders to refrain from taking the Metro when at all possible. The agency has closed 19 of its stations after some workers tested positive for the virus.

Many businesses and restaurants have closed their doors as a result of lost business, including the majority of GWorld vendors.