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Emails show faculty, health officials expressed concern over UNC-Chapel Hill's COVID-19 plan before August reopening - ABC11 Raleigh-Durham <br />https://abc11.com/unc-covid-nc-coronavirus/7029408/[10/19/20, 3:46:34 PM] <br />On August 3, thousands of students begin moving back <br />to campus, one week before school started. Days later, <br />a video surfaced showing dozen of people coming out <br />of a home without masks. <br />As classes started, one professor wrote to faculty: "We <br />are now 2 days into the fall semester and overall <br />everything seems to be working fairly well." <br />That same day, Orange County health director <br />Quintana Stewart emailed Guskiewicz and Blouin: "We <br />are on the brink of a cluster in Granville Towers." <br />By the end of the week, Granville Towers and <br />Ehringhaus Community have COVID-19 clusters. <br />Emails exchanged in the first week of classes show top <br />university officials proceeded in a somewhat routine <br />way. Speeches were planned for various faculty, new <br />COVID-19 signage was created but in the background, <br />the financial strain peeked in. <br />In the middle of the first week, UNC System President <br />Peter Hans alerted all chancellors to manage expenses <br />and operations carefully while giving attention to a few <br />key areas, including capital construction and salary <br />changes. <br />Over the weekend, daily cases of new positive cases <br />climbed and two more clusters were announced. News <br />of a party held over the weekend was sent to officials <br />and a special faculty executive meeting was announced <br />for the following week. <br />Housing data shared in emails show 20-31 students <br />canceled their housing contracts within the first <br />weekend and the university received many calls