HOUGHTON — After a two-week pause to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the area, K-12 schools and Michigan Technological University will return to their previous face-to-face instruction on Monday as planned.

On Monday, Michigan Technological University plans to return to Level 3 of its reopening plan, where it had been before moving to Level 4 for two weeks. In addition to stricter controls on entering campus and buildings, Tech had moved most in-person lecture classes online. Hybrid lectures at Tech will resume Monday, as conducted before the shift to Level 4, Tech Marketing and Communications Director Ian Repp said in a statement.

K-12 schools also plan to resume face-to-face instruction, local districts announced Wednesday. This will include athletic events.

“It is our hope that we do not need to pause again in the future but please be prepared if we need to do so,” Houghton-Portage Township Superintendent Doreen Kramer said in a statement. “Thank you for your patience, support and understanding.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, no impending change in status had been reported at the Gogebic Community College center in Houghton, which also paused most in-person instruction for two weeks.

Finlandia University was scheduled to return to in-person instruction after a one week pause ending Wednesday.

The seven-day average for new cases in Houghton County had continued to trend downward after reaching a high of 766.1 cases per million on Sept. 23, the day before the announcement of the two-week move to remote learning for K-12 schools. As of Sunday, the seven-day average stood at 330 cases per million, still more than twice the threshold for the state’s highest risk level.

With the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services orders largely restoring the executive orders the state Supreme Court ruled were no longer in effect, so far things are expected to look much the same at local schools.

Local K-12 schools will be required to wear masks, as outlined in the MDHHS order. K-12 schools will also be required to provide public notice of COVID-19 cases.

“I believe most schools are still going to follow their plans as far as whatever they created on Phase 4, but they also have to comply with the MDHHS orders, also,” Copper Country Intermediate School District Superintendent George Stockero said.

Michigan Tech is not changing how it determines its health and safety level on campus, Repp said in a statement.

“Michigan Tech’s operations will continue to be guided by our Health and Safety Levels Protocol,” he said. “Symptom monitoring and face coverings are still required for those on campus, and social gathering limits for both indoor and outdoor events remain in place.”

Wednesday’s K-12 announcements come after a meeting earlier in the day with all local superintendents, the Western Upper Peninsula Health Department and representatives from hospitals and the Upper Great Lakes Family Health Center.

Stockero said the temporary return to remote instruction had gone smoothly.

“I think it went very well and students knew what to expect and teachers knew what to expect,” he said. “I have not heard anything from anyone complaining.”