San Francisco State University announced to faculty and students today that the school, along with all schools in the California State University system, will close for in-person instruction through the rest of the calendar year due to COVID-19.

"With the health of our students and employees uppermost in my mind," University president Lynn Mahoney wrote in a letter to students, "I have made the very hard decision to continue with predominantly remote instruction through the fall semester."

"Like all CSU campuses, we are planning for a semester that will be primarily virtual. Most academic disciplines will be exclusively virtual," she said. "We will also be prepared to go fully virtual if public health demands it."

Mahoney said SFSU anticipated a spike in cases of COVID-19 in San Francisco later this fall and decided to keep classes remote in anticipation. So far, only CSU campuses have announced plans to remain closed through the Fall semester. The fate of in-person classes at the rest of the Bay Area's public and private colleges and universities remains up in the air.

Mahoney did say a small handful of classes would potentially be allowed to meet in person, without specifying which classes might qualify.

"Colleges, department chairs and faculty are working quickly to identify the small number of courses that may qualify for an exception," Mahoney wrote. Decisions about what classes might qualify for in-person instruction will be announced soon.