A microbiology class at the University of Minnesota, which is urging students to get booster shots and tested for COVID. (Jerry Holt, Star Tribune file/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Minnesota colleges are increasing their quarantine space, giving professors more teaching flexibility and urging students to avoid gatherings as the spring semester gets underway amid an omicron variant-fueled spike in COVID-19 cases.

The University of Minnesota is urging students to get booster shots and tested for COVID-19. In a message to students and employees last Wednesday, President Joan Gabel said the university will give its professors more flexibility this semester, allowing them to temporarily move from in-person teaching to hybrid or online when needed. Other U employees who can work from home are also being encouraged to do so when necessary.

"While we continue to value and expect in-person learning opportunities, we recognize that for some individuals or settings, this may be difficult on occasion and/or in the short term," Gabel said.

Gabel noted that 94% of U employees have submitted proof that they are partially or fully vaccinated. And about 96% of students at the university's five campuses have reported they are vaccinated. The spring semester starts Jan. 18 at the flagship Twin Cities campus.

Colleges in Minnesota and nationwide welcomed a return to normalcy on their campuses last fall, holding most classes and activities in person while avoiding major outbreaks. But the recent emergence of the rapidly transmissible omicron variant, and its ability to circumvent immunity from vaccines or past infection, has prompted colleges to enter the spring semester more cautiously.

Winona State University is implementing a "lay low" period for two weeks starting Monday, when spring semester classes begin. Most classes will be taught in the format they were already planned, either in person or online, but professors have the authority to switch if needed.

Meetings and gatherings should be held remotely during the two-week quiet period though, Winona State administrators said. Students and employees are urged to limit their social contact. Employees who are not teaching classes are encouraged to work remotely during this span.

Macalester College in St. Paul is also implementing a quiet period from now until at least Feb. 1. Meetings, gatherings and programs should be held remotely in that time, and dining in the campus cafeteria will be limited to students with a meal plan and feature several to-go options.

Students at the private college are required to receive booster shots and undergo testing 72 hours before their return to campus. Classes will be held remotely Jan. 20-21 while the college processes students' COVID-19 tests and then return to their previously planned format.

"Although layered public health measures help to slow the spread of the omicron variant, we expect a higher number of COVID-19 cases on campus this spring," said Prof. Paul Overvoorde, Macalester's director of COVID operations, and Steph Walters, medical director of the school's Laurie Hamre Centre for Health and Wellness, in a joint statement last week. "While we want to avoid adding to worries, we also want to acknowledge that the timing and rates of COVID cases may disrupt plans for courses, labs, training, and events in the coming weeks."

St. Olaf College and Carleton College, both located in Northfield, are taking similar precautions, including requiring students and employees to receive booster shots and take a COVID-19 test before returning to campus.

The two private colleges are both shortening the minimum isolation period for students who've tested positive from 10 days to seven, as long as their symptoms have improved and they test negative by the end. Carleton is increasing its available quarantine space while St. Olaf will allow some students who test positive to isolate in their rooms.

Carleton administrators said in a statement last Wednesday that 18 students who tested positive were actively isolating on campus and another 31 who were infected while on break are isolating at home and delaying their return to campus.

"We anticipate that the need for isolation space will be greater this term," said the college's COVID team.