Western Kentucky University is weighing its options to ward against the spread of the novel coronavirus, even as a string of colleges announced plans Tuesday to either move classes online or suspend classes altogether.

As WKU took stock of its options, the city of Bowling Green announced on social media the formation of a Coronavirus Workgroup “in order to inform citizens and potentially make countywide decisions regarding the Coronavirus.”

The Coronavirus Workgroup plans to brief the public each afternoon via social media, according to a news release announcing the group’s formation. Group members include the Barren River District Health Department, Warren County government, Med Center Health, TriStar Greenview Regional Hospital, Graves Gilbert Clinic, WKU and both local public school districts.

At WKU, “we are looking at different scenarios. We’ve not made any decisions on what we’re going to do,” WKU spokesman Bob Skipper told the Daily News on Tuesday.

WKU is currently on spring break, but that hasn’t deterred campus administrators from meeting on a daily basis to discuss contingency plans, Skipper said.

Administrators have discussed the possibility of suspending face-to-face classes in favor of delivering classes online, Skipper said, and the university has developed a series of webinars aimed at conveying ideas to faculty for how they could deliver content if that were the case. The first one was held Thursday and more are to follow.

“We wanted them to start thinking about what they would do in the case that we said we can’t have face-to-face classes,” WKU Provost Cheryl Stevens told the university’s Board of Regents on Friday.

One possibility has been completely ruled out, however.

“We can’t ever really completely close the university,” Skipper said, adding there are too many students, such as those studying abroad from China, who can’t get home.

Because of that, Skipper said, “we would always have to have a limited number of staff available,” providing campus policing, food service and housekeeping for students.

“We have an obligation to our students who can’t relocate somewhere on a moment’s notice. … We can’t abandon those students,” Skipper said.

He said the university is trying to walk a fine line between protecting public health and avoiding disrupting students’ lives too drastically.

The university is encouraging staff to practice ways of “social distancing,” such as avoiding close contact with others, he added. WKU is also regularly communicating with health officials about the best way to proceed. For now, no decisions have been made, Skipper said.

During a news conference Tuesday in Frankfort, Gov. Andy Beshear announced the total number of known coronavirus cases in Kentucky had climbed to eight, up from six a day before. The two additional cases are both from Harrison County north of Lexington, bringing the total there to five. Another two patients are being treated in Fayette County and one in Jefferson County.

The growing outbreak prompted Berea College on Tuesday to announce an early end of its spring semester in an effort to ward off the spread of the virus. It will cease campus operations Friday and asks students to return home by Saturday.

Vanderbilt University in Nashville also announced it will cancel classes for the rest of the week, and – beginning March 16 through the remainder of the month – suspend all in-person classes in favor of distance learning.