Harvard plans to return to remote learning in January as COVID-19 cases rise

• Harvard University is returning to remote learning because of the spread of the Omicron variant.
• Staff and students were told they must work and learn from home through January.

Harvard University has joined a growing number of schools and colleges across the US returning to remote learning as the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads at a rapid rate.

The University announced Saturday that all students and teachers, unless they have been authorized to stay on campus, will be required to study and work from home through January 22, 2022.

"Public health experts anticipate the increase in COVID-19 cases to continue, driven by the Omicron variant, which we have now confirmed is already present in our campus community. The Omicron variant is expected to become the dominant variant across the country in the coming weeks, potentially peaking in the first few weeks of January," Harvard's leaders wrote in a letter to students and staff this weekend.

Schools across the country have chosen to close doors early for the winter break because of the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

Insider's Bethany Biron reported that East Coast schools across New York, Maryland, and Maine were among the first to temporarily shutter and shift to remote learning to slow the spread of the virus. Schools in other parts of the US have since followed.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House chief medical adviser and the nation's top infectious disease expert, said in recent interviews that while the Omicron variant is "raging," he doesn't expect there to be another lockdown in the US.

"I don't see that in the future if we do the things that we're talking about," he said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "The thing that continues to be very troublesome to me and my public health colleagues is the fact that we still have 50 million people in the country who are eligible to be vaccinated who are not vaccinated."

For now, the Delta variant remains more prevalent than Omicron, which accounts for 3% of COVID-19 cases in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Daily cases have been rising through December, hitting 156,415 on Friday.

Officials are encouraging people to get a third booster vaccination to prevent infection. Harvard University leaders urged students and staff to take this advice.

On Monday, Moderna announced that a third dose of its vaccine significantly improves antibody levels against Omicron, while sharing the findings of its early research into the booster vaccine. Earlier this month, Pfizer and BioNTech, which offer an equivalent COVID-19 vaccine, also said that their own early tests indicate that a third dose of their vaccine was necessary to protect against the Omicron variant.