ASU has canceled all 2020 summer study abroad trips, the Study Abroad Office said in an email sent to students Monday.
"ASU has made the difficult decision to cancel all summer 2020 study abroad programming, including the ASU: Cronkite: Covering the Tokyo Olympics program," the email said.
Due to outbreaks of COVID-19 around the world, the University made the decision to cancel the trips after the U.S. Department of State issued Level 4 Global Health Advisory to U.S. citizens, telling them to avoid all international travel, according to the email.
ASU will change the status of students study abroad applications to "Program Canceled," refund students any fees the University charged them for the program and advised students to cancel their flights now as "Many airlines are issuing full refunds — or other favorable cancellation policies — so we hope this will not be a significant financial setback for you," the email said.
On-campus or online courses are being looked into to "allow (students) to engage globally during the summer sessions," as an alternate way of receiving a similar experience as studying abroad.
Hundreds of ASU students studying abroad have already had to return home following the University canceling all spring 2020 study abroad programs in Austria, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
READ MORE: The long way home: Students abroad return over coronavirus concerns
As of March 23, Arizona has 234 confirmed cases and two deaths from COVID-19, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services website.
The website adds that community spread is currently at a "moderate" risk in the state, meaning there are confirmed cases in 11 of Arizona's 15 counties.
Globally there have been over 375,000 confirmed cases, the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center website said.
Reach the reporter at wmyskow@asu.edu and follow @wmyskow on Twitter.
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Wyatt Myskow is the project manager at The State Press, where he oversees enterprise stories for the publication. He also works at The Arizona Republic, where he covers the cities of Peoria and Surprise.
