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Here's What the University of Central Florida Campus Might Look Like When Students Return in August

Photo: Danielle Prieur
Photo: Danielle Prieur

UCF has spent 5 million dollars to outfit classrooms with health precautions that have been put in place to protect against coronavirus.

Classrooms have a reduced occupancy with seating spaced out six feet apart and touchless hand sanitizers and wipe dispensers dot the hallways. 

Entrances and exits to the buildings are automatic and bathrooms and elevators will be controlled using pulls and buttons on the floor. 

UCF Operations’ Duane Siemen says his department still has to put up signage, but these measures along with increased deep cleaning should keep students safe. 

“That’s our primary focus. We’re trying to get the students back in here. We’re trying to make the faculty and the staff feel comfortable in the buildings.”

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Siemen says some cuts made at the start of the pandemic have actually paid off in terms of the upcoming semester.

“We did very good preventative measures of ramping up ACs in buildings, shutting down parking garages, shutting down areas that we could save utility costs and we also ramped down some of our contracted services that we had with certain members of the facility staff. That alone saved us several million dollars that we were able to reinvest.”

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Students and staff on campus must wear a face covering when they return on August 24 and all classes will be virtual after Thanksgiving.

If you'd like to listen to this story, click on the clips above.

Danielle Prieur covers education in Central Florida.