By Heather Jones|Staff writerUpdate: All remaining 2019-2020 Study Abroad programs have been canceled. According to the U.S. Department of State, a global health advisory has placed a Level Three travel ban on all countries. The University System of Georgia cannot legally send faculty or students to a country that has been labeled with a Level Three travel ban. Judy Kyrkos, Study Abroad (SA) advisor sat down for an interview to discuss what would become of the SA trips for the 2020 spring and summer semesters on Friday, March 13. Not many questions were able to be answered clearly due to COVID-19, the illness that is caused by the novel coronavirus.The Study Abroad trips that are confirmed cancelled are Business and Film trips to Italy and Global Nursing trip to Ecuador, as these countries are now both at a Level Three travel ban. According to the U.S. Department of State, Level Three travel bans are placed to alert people to reconsider and avoid travel due to serious risks to safety and security.Students that already paid for their trips will be granted a refund on a case by case basis.Kyrkos could not provide much information about whether or not the other study abroad trips would be cancelled, postponed, or even considered safe by the time students and coordinators would be leaving.The Study Abroad office and the University System of Georgia want to keep everyone safe and cannot legally send faculty or students to a country that has been labeled with a Level Three travel ban.The study abroad office is working diligently to help all students travel the world, but are being cautious and monitoring the way that the virus is spreading.Safety is their number one priority for everyone involved.Students who were using study abroad trips as credits to graduate are able to work with their departments, as well as the Study Abroad office to complete these tasks and graduate on time. Contact Heather Jones at HJONES2@augusta.edu.