MADISON, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) -- Just days after classes began, UW-Madison late Wednesday confirmed that it's going back solely to remote instruction for now and quarantining two residence halls, all as Covid-19 has rapidly spread throughout campus.

"Unfortunately, our positive test rate among students continues to rise far too rapidly," UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank said in a statement Wednesday night. "It has been 20 percent or greater for the past two days. As we saw at the end of last week, these numbers reflect a rapid rise in infection among students living off campus, but the latest numbers also show a sharp increase in certain residence halls.  We will not contain this spread without significant additional action."

UW System President Tommy Thompson weighed in on the move late Wednesday night.

“I support the additional mitigation steps announced by Chancellor Blank today," a statement from Thompson read. "These steps are not unlike those employed by other universities around the country. Students will remain on campus, as recommended by health experts, and UW-Madison will take a two-week period to deliver all courses online, halting in-class delivery out of an abundance of caution. 

We will continue to remain in close contact with officials at UW-Madison along with local, state and national health experts. Students, faculty and staff must be vigilant to combat this virus. These tactics have proven effective at other universities. Our hospitals have not experienced significant surge or strain. Our substantial testing has generated positive tests. This is not a surprise. Chancellor Blank and the Smart Restart team continue to take immediate steps, informed by data, to contain the spread."

Blank's statement goes on to lay out the university's action steps for the short term:

• All in-person undergraduate, graduate and professional school group instruction will be paused from Sept. 10 – 25. These classes will be cancelled Thursday, Sept. 10 – Saturday, Sept. 12 and will resume remotely beginning Monday, Sept. 14 for at least two weeks. Clinical training will be permitted to continue. Classes and sections that are currently being offered remotely will continue as scheduled. Our contact tracing has not revealed any evidence of transmission from in-person instruction; however, this decision comes out of an abundance of caution for our students and employees. The Office of the Provost will provide assistance, if needed, to faculty and instructional staff making this quick transition to remote learning.
• Undergraduate research experiences that can be accomplished remotely must be conducted that way starting September 10 and continuing until September 25. The suspension of undergraduate students participating in face-to-face human subject research interactions, on and off campus, remains in effect until September 25. Graduate and post-doctoral research activities will be permitted to continue.
• Given the high number of positive test results in Sellery and Witte Residence Halls, we have directed all residents in these buildings to quarantine in place for the next two weeks effective at 10 p.m. this evening. All residents of these halls who have not already been tested this week will be required to test on Thursday and Friday. University Health Services (UHS) will conduct these tests on-site.
• Students are NOT being asked to move out of the residence halls or leave town. We have significant additional quarantine space available if necessary.
• Appointments continue to be available for on-campus testing; we are also working to further expand testing capacity.

You can read the entire statement here.