Can shutdowns work for universities struggling to contain COVID?

Nicole Ludford should have been in art history class on a recent morning - her only course meeting in person this semester - but instead she stayed inside her apartment near the University of Wisconsin-Madison and reflected on the school's most sweeping attempt yet to combat rising COVID-19 cases among students.

The day before, UW-Madison announced a two-week pause on all face-to-face courses and put two predominantly freshman dorms under quarantine as total infections linked to campus topped 1,400. In-person courses were canceled and set to resume remotely on Monday.

Ludford, a senior from Chicago's River North neighborhood, isn't sure the strategy will work. Though cases could drop for a short time, she said she worries the actions don't address the underlying problem: students