The University of Nevada, Reno is seeing an increase in coronavirus cases. In response, university officials have chosen to limit some on-campus activities, hoping to stop the spread of the virus.

To stay in accordance with the governor's 250 person cap on gatherings, the university has decided not to allow fans at the Wolf Pack football season opener on October 24th.

“We made some decisions, and these decisions were not easy but we did feel that they were in the best interest of our campus community,” said UNR President Brian Sandoval.

The university also decided to close down the Wiegand Fitness Center, as it was found that since the beginning of school, there were over 60 people that were confirmed to have the virus, and visited the center.

"Of those cases, about half of them had unknowingly visited the fitness center during their period of infectivity," said Sandoval.

The university also set up a “Protect the Pack” COVID-19 dashboard similar to way Washoe County and the state task-force. It shows the total number of infected students and staff, as well as those who are in isolation or quarantine. 

So far, 581 students and 42 faculty have tested positive for the virus.

Cases are growing despite reduced in person classes and having fewer than 1,000 students on campus at a time.

"We only have about four percent of classes all in person, with about 23 percent having some in person component," said Dr. Cheryl Hug-English, Director for the Student Health Center at UNR.

Officials attribute a large percentage of the cases around the university to private parties and gatherings.

“Contacting these individuals, a lot of the contacts are happening on off-campus sites. Off-campus housing, off-campus gatherings," said Dr. Hug-English.

“Once like every two to three weeks I'll hear about a party, most of them like frat parties or buildings off campus," said Janeil, an Environmental Science Student at the university.

The university is advising students to limit exposure to others and keep gatherings to a minimum both on and off-campus.

The Wiegand Fitness Center is scheduled to close Thursday the 8th at 5 p.m., and there is no word yet if all future Wolf Pack football games will go on without the presence of fans.

You can visit the "Protect the Pack" COVID-19 reporting dashboard here: https://www.unr.edu/coronavirus/dashboard.