By Carl Blankenship
carl.blankenship@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Rowan-Cabarrus Community College has decided to move classes online according to an announcement released on Saturday morning.

RCCC joined other local colleges in the county in making the change in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Catawba College and Livingstone College made the same call on Friday.

RCCC is extending its spring break through March 22 with “the majority” of classes moving online beginning on March 23. The announcement said corporate and continuing education classes are “typically exempt from spring break,” and will meet normally.

There may also be other classes which remain in-person, as the college is working on transitioning traditional courses online and some classes require hands-on learning.

Faculty and staff will return on the originally scheduled March 16, and “non-essential” employees will be able to work from home.

The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in North Carolina has been climbing for the past week and currently sits at 23 cases with no deaths according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. The Salisbury VA Medical Center began screening all visitors for the respiratory disease on Monday, Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency on Tuesday and President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on Friday.