Face-to-face classes will resume Wednesday at Northwest Nazarene University, as a one-week stay-in-place directive comes to an end.

“Although we must remain vigilant, we are pleased that our case numbers are beginning to trend in the right direction,” President Joel Pearsall said in a Tuesday news release. “We initiated several changes and the NNU community responded in a positive way. Their collective actions seem to have helped to interrupt the spread we were starting to observe.”

NNU was the first Idaho college or university to shift to online-only learning this fall, issuing the Nov. 10 stay-in-place directive as case numbers began climbing on the Nampa campus. Since then, the case numbers are showing signs of tapering off; NNU reported 42 confirmed cases in a seven-day period ending Friday, but only eight cases in the past three days.

While students will return to classrooms and employees will return to offices Wednesday, safeguards will remain in place. Students and employees will undergo saliva screening four times a week, the university will offer grab-and-go meals and visitor and vendors will have limited access to campus.

Fall classes are winding down at NNU. Thanksgiving break will begin after Nov. 25 classes. After the holiday, students will have the option of taking online classes for the rest of fall semester, which ends Dec. 10.