The rate of new COVID-19 cases at Liberty University is on the decline.

Senior Vice President of Communications Scott Lamb says the surge at the beginning of the year was to be expected.

He says they knew the case numbers would drop, especially after mitigation efforts.

"Two weeks ago we had 450 active cases, about. Last week that was cut in half. Then, this week, we're happy to show we have less than 100 cases total," Lamb said.

He says there are 71 active cases for both students and faculty.

Only 20 of 500 available quarantine beds in their annex are being used.

To help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, LU went online for two weeks.

Due to the Virginia Department of Labor's mandate, all of their faculty and staff are now wearing masks indoors.

They are encouraging social distancing and healthy hygiene and Lamb says students can choose whether or not to wear masks.