SUNY Oneonta announced that it will end in-person classes for the remainder of the fall semester due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.

SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras says that all on-campus students will be sent home, and the school will stop all in-person classes and activities for the rest of the semester.

School officials say that the college had a "two-week" pause period on Aug. 30 to focus on testing while limiting the spread of COVID-19, but with the increase in confirmed cases, the college needed to take a new action to prevent the spread. Initially there were 389 cases since the start of the semester on Aug. 24, however, News 12 has just learned that there are now 507 cases.

Frank Zambrano, of Elmsford, just started his senior year and says most students followed health guidelines, but some did party last week.

"They like to pretend this doesn't exist, says Zambrano. "Like this, like there's not a global pandemic going on, that they're immune to it and they're not."

School officials say that students who have been moved to quarantine or isolation should remain on campus until they are cleared by the Department of Health to resume normal activities. Officials also say a care team will make daily calls to the students in isolation, adding that there is also a medical staff available for telemedicine calls and in-person visits if needed.

The college says it will issue full refunds for housing and prorated refunds for dining for students who move out of their rooms.