Slippery Rock University's administration suspended the school's study abroad program for spring break due to coronavirus — also known as COVID-19 — according to a school announcement.

The Friday announcement is signed by the school's president, William Behre, and cites a figure of 84,000 virus cases identified in 52 countries. In the letter, Behre notes that the cancellation is for spring break, March 8 to 15.

According to The Associated Press, the list of countries hit by the illness edged toward 60 as Mexico, Belarus, Lithuania, New Zealand, Nigeria, Azerbaijan, Iceland and the Netherlands reported their first cases. The school's program, overseen by the Office for Global Engagement, typically offers students a chance to continue their studies in more than a dozen countries, including China. “This decision was not entered into lightly,” Behre wrote in the announcement. “This decision was made out of an abundance of caution and responsibility for the well-being of all involved.”

The school hasn't decided what to do about students who are currently overseas for the January through May semester. There are currently 17 students abroad, spread across five countries, according to Dr. Samuel Heikinen, the school's associate vice president for global engagement.

“We're having critical conversations about what to do about the current students (studying abroad). We're in the critical assessment mode and it's a priority for us,” Heikinen said, adding that staff are meeting regularly.

Behre wrote the spread of the virus has “negatively impacted” the school's ability to meet the educational aims of the study abroad program, which are to “deliver immersive cultural learning experiences to our students.”

According to the announcement, all faculty and staff program leaders, along with participating students, were notified of the school's decision. Behre wrote they will work with students on refunds and class credit adjustments.

Jerry Chmielewski, interim provost, notes that while university officials have tracked the situation since coronavirus first started making headlines, they started thinking about the situation in earnest this week.

“Things still seem to be spreading as opposed to contracting,” Chmielewski said. “Everybody was hoping that by this time we'd be going the other way.”

The school has not made a decision about the school's study abroad program in the summer and fall. Chmielewski expects a follow-up meeting next week during which the administration might discuss what to do for the rest of the year's programs.

“From my perspective, the decision was straightforward. We have to think about safety and the well being of students and the perspective of parents — what would you want to see and hear?” Chmielewski said. “It's easier to make the decision than if you're young and really want to go on a trip.”

The school's decision comes amid a flurry of coronavirus activity across the globe.

Chmielewski said the decision was made after uncertainty turned into worry as the virus began appearing in places outside of the epicenter and dashed hopes for containment.

“When you look at what happened in Italy this week — last week, it wasn't in the news; now, it's majorly in the news. Who knows what we will see next week,” Chmielewski said.

Heikinen echoed a similar sentiment, “We were working over the weekend, and we were watching the spread as we were talking.”

The head of the World Health Organization said Friday that the risk of the virus spreading worldwide was “very high,” citing the “continued increase in the number of cases and the number of affected countries.”

As the global health crisis deepened, so too did the economic one.

Economists have forecast global growth will slip to 2.4 percent this year, the slowest since the Great Recession in 2009, and down from earlier expectations closer to 3 percent. For the United States, estimates are falling to as low as 1.7 percent growth this year, down from 2.3 percent in 2019, according to The Associated Press.

More companies are warning investors that their finances will take a hit because of disruptions to supply chains and sales.

The weeklong stock market sell-off follows months of uncertainty about the spread of the virus, which hit China in December and shut down large swaths of that nation by January. China is still the hardest-hit country and has most of the 83,000 cases worldwide and related deaths.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.