TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The Fall semester has just begun at the University of Arizona and students already have a lot to look forward to.
"I'm super excited to meet everyone and join a whole bunch of clubs," said freshman student, A'Lexis Crawford.
8,700 first-year students are enrolled, which is the largest freshman class in the university's history. In total, over 47,000 students are enrolled.
"We've also had terrific retention of students from first year to second year, second year to third year and so on. Overall, the campus is going to be really busy," said University of Arizona Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost, Liesl Folks.
Campus already looks and feels a lot different than it did last Fall. Folks said all students have the option to attend classes in-person.
"Last year, we were still scrambling to figure out how the Coronavirus even works. Now, we know a lot about how to keep our communities safe," said Folks.
A campus wide mask mandate is one way the university plans to limit the spread of COVID-19. Masks are required in indoor areas where social distancing isn't possible.
"Whether you're vaccinated or not vaccinated, we know now that breakthrough infections can happen. We know that, in some circumstances, those breakthrough infections could lead to infecting somebody else. That could be somebody who is at risk," said Folks.
Free COVID-19 testing will be offered on campus and the message from officials stays the same.
"Mask up, get vaccinated and get tested every week. Those are the three things we're asking of our students," said Folks.
