College of St. Rose Professor Dr. Charles Murray expected to spend this semester teaching his students about how strong the U.S. economy is. Instead, Murray says his now online-only courses are centered on how the economy is changing because of the pandemic.

He says his students have been taking the initiative to look up jobs and unemployment numbers weekly and they're paying closer attention. Because he expects the economy to continue being impacted, Murray has suggested a COVID-19 centered course for next semester.

"From an economics standpoint, it's likely to continue to get more interesting. I suspect we will be talking about this in our courses for a long, long time," said Murray.

Murray says some of his students have already written papers on the virus' economic impact.