The University of Pittsburgh will loosen restrictions at three campuses starting Thursday, including the Pittsburgh campus, citing lower coronavirus infection counts and easing public health guidance.

Pitt announced the change in an update from the Covid-19 Medical Response Office on Friday. The Pittsburgh, Bradford and Titusville campuses will move from the “Elevated Risk” posture to “Guarded Risk.” The Greensburg campus has been in Guarded Risk for the last two weeks.

Guarded Risk is the university’s lowest risk level and allows most instruction to occur in person, with the exception of large lectures. Housing and shared spaces may open, and the maximum gathering numbers will be determined by space capacity and government guidelines, according to Pitt’s website.

Kevin Zwick, a university spokesman, said a variety of metrics were used to make the decision to loosen restrictions, including case numbers, public health guidelines and the availability of personal protective equipment and isolation housing.

“Based on low, stable case counts on our campus, strong compliance with health and safety rules, promising trends in the county and other factors, the determination was made to move to the Guarded Risk Posture,” Zwick said in a statement.

The change in risk posture was cause for cautious optimism to Eric Macadangdang, a Pitt senior and president of the student government. Macadandang said, when he first learned the university would be loosening restrictions, he immediately had “mixed feelings.”

“At first, it felt like déjà vu with last semester,” he said, reflecting on October 2020, when the university moved to Guarded Risk only for infections to surge following Halloween, the election and general cold weather. “I was extremely hesitant to make that change last semester…this semester, I had those same general feelings.”

But Macadandang knows this semester is different. With vaccine availability increasing every week, he’s starting to feel the university and the pandemic might be closer to a turning point.

“None of this warrants any of us to let our guard down as an institution, as individuals,” he said. “We have to continually hold ourselves accountable and think about how our actions affect others.”

Covid-19 infection levels at the Pittsburgh campus have remained low since students returned for the spring semester. According to Pitt’s covid data dashboard, the five-day moving average of cases per day has hovered between two and three cases for the last month. There are 21 students currently in isolation, far below the levels in the later half of last semester.

“The university is encouraged by the increased vaccine production and Gov. Wolf’s recent announcement lifting certain mitigation strategies,” Zwick said. “We continue to enforce our health and safety rules like proper masking, good hand hygiene and physical distancing, and to keep our campus as safe as possible through things like de-densified classrooms, reduced occupancy limits and staggered work schedules.”

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