The University of Idaho will open its downtown Boise campuses to face-to-face learning on Sept. 28.

That means 400 students and 120 faculty and staff will return to the Idaho Water Center and the Idaho Law and Justice Leaning Center.

“Both the Boise School District and Boise State University started offering some in-person classes this month and, after consulting with the Central District Health, we decided to be consistent with the community efforts and start in-person classes in Boise as well,” said Chandra Zenner Ford, the U of I’s center executive officer for Boise and Southwest Idaho.

The Boise campuses will go back to online instruction after Thanksgiving break.

In other coronavirus news, the U of I reported 12 new cases for the seven-day period ending Monday. The cases included “a small cluster of positives in a residence hall,” the U of I reported on its coronavirus page.

The university reported four new cases the previous week.

However, the U of I’s positive test rate remained low and decreased slightly over the latest seven-day period, falling to 1.6 percent. The university conducted 744 tests, including initial tests for late-arriving students.

The U of I reopened its main campus in Moscow for a mix of in-person and hybrid instruction. Classes began on Aug. 24.