The semester was just beginning, but now thousands of North Carolina State University students are leaving campus.
After university leaders asked all students to leave residence halls by Sept. 11 on Wednesday, on Thursday they announced a two-day recess from classes to allow them to pack.
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More than 4,000 students are expected to be on the move. 'You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here' was the message to thousands of students in N.C. State dorms.
"You don't want to move out. We just got here," said Josh Offenheiser, an N.C. State student.
"We are trying to make the best of it right now," said Alex Griswold, an N.C. State student.
With some exceptions, those living on campus started moving out Thursday.
On Wednesday, when the move-out was announced, the university recorded nearly 100 more positive cases and three new clusters in dorms and the Greek Village.
Thursday, the university announced five more clusters had been found on campus. Two clusters were reported on main campus at Tucker Residence Hall and Wood Residence Hall. Three clusters were reported in Greek community at Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority, Theta Chi Fraternity and Beta Theta Pi Fraternity.
On campus, nearly 73% of quarantine units are occupied. More than 1,400 people are quarantined and isolated off campus.
Students are now considering heading back home or trying to stay in Raleigh.
"I am going to try to stay here. My sister has an apartment near here, so I am going to try to stay here a little bit," said Griswold.
Apartments can be tough to find and leases are for a full year.
The leases are also an issue because students are holding out hope they can return to campus next semester.
Landmark Properties runs a half-dozen apartment buildings in Raleigh geared towards students. Employees said they have seen a spike in interest and that there are still some units available at their Raleigh properties, but they could be at 100% occupancy in the next week or so.