In March 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) began to spread quickly in the United States, leading to the widespread closures of schools and universities. By March 13, most universities in Virginia announced that they were moving their classes to online-only, discontinuing in-person instruction. Falwell announced on March 13 that in-person classes at Liberty University would resume following spring break (March 14–22, 2020) in defiance of those throughout the country who called for schools to be required to close. Also on March 13, Falwell promoted a conspiracy theory that North Korea and China had collaborated to create the coronavirus. He also said that people were overreacting to the coronavirus outbreak and that Democrats were trying to use the situation to harm President Trump.
