Morehouse College cancels homecoming festivities amid COVID-19 surge

ATLANTA — Morehouse College has canceled this year’s homecoming festivities due to the surge of COVID-19.

Events were scheduled to happen the week of Oct. 10 -17. The Oct. 16 football game against Fort Valley State University will go on as scheduled but without the ‘homecoming’ designation and with fewer tickets available to the game.

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University officials said they made the decision this week as Georgia broke the record for COVID-19 hospitalizations.

“The state has the sixth-highest per capita infection rate in the nation and an unprecedented number of young people have become ill with the virus,” officials said. “Given the circumstances, a massive in-person gathering on our campus presents a public health risk to our students which is impossible to ignore.”

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Officials said nearly 100% of the students and employees on campus have met the vaccination requirement, so in place of homecoming, the school will host a students-only fall festival.

Access to campus on Oct. 16 will be limited to students and employees and other Atlanta University Center Consortium institutions.

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“We would like to thank the many students and alumni who have provided feedback as we made this difficult decision, which balances the understandable desire of our community to gather together with our need to protect our students’ safety,” officials said.

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