Santa Monica College (SMC) took drastic measures on Wed. March 11 to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and ensure the safety of the students, by moving most classes to remote learning, while still keeping the campuses open to make available their resources.

President Trump addressed the nation on Wednesday evening, announcing a ban on all travel between mainland Europe and the United States, in response to the growing threat of coronavirus (COVID-19) throughout the world and inside of the United States. This was the 46th president’s second address over three years in power, the first of which concerned a illegal immigration and the government shutdown of January, 2019.

The Los Angeles Community College District (LACC) has announced today (March 11) that they will be shifting to online classes due to worries about the spread of coronavirus.

Tues., March 10 was supposed to be a scheduled staff development Flex Day, but instead, it was changed to accomodate an evolving COVID-19 preparedness effort. To prepare for the possibility that Santa Monica College (SMC) may close its campus and move classes online, faculty members were invited to participate in both hands-on and webinar-based classes to learn about internet education. This comes amidst a smattering of statewide school closures to decrease campus-wide risk of contracting coronavirus.

Prior to the start of the Spring semester, the International Education Center (IEC) of Santa Monica College (SMC) received approximately 169 emails from Chinese students whose recent travels to China inhibited them from returning in time for their classes.

The Glossary of coronavirus provides basic terminology that helps define the dynamics of what may prove to be the 21st century’s first global pandemic of a disease for which to date there is no known cure.