West Virginia University is aiming for Thanksgiving with renewed classroom instruction.
“If we follow our protocols we can get through the next seven weeks until we get to Thanksgiving, in person,” said Rob Alsop, the university’s vice president for strategic initiatives.
After a spike of coronavirus around Labor Day, the university announced it would pause in-person classes and go online for a couple of weeks.
On Wednesday, the university announced those classes could resume at the Morgantown campus starting this coming Monday.
Alsop spoke about that decision today during a Return to Campus Conversation online. He then appeared on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
WVU Vice President for Strategic Initiatives @jrobalsop talks with @HoppyKercheval about WVU’s plans to reopen for undergraduate classes next week. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIRZCB pic.twitter.com/IGPK7DVYmr
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) September 24, 2020
He said the move to return was based on examining covid trends.
For example, he said, positive cases in Monongalia County are trending down. Meanwhile, WVU is showing consistent declines in quarantine and isolation for students.
“I do think there’s been a significant decline. I would have liked to have seen the numbers come down further,” Alsop said.
“To be clear, WVU is not saying covid is gone and we don’t have to worry about it.”
About the same time the university announced classroom instruction would resume, it also had to announce the temporary closure of an on-campus Starbucks because of a covid exposure there. The Starbucks location had just reopened Sept. 18 following a prior COVID-19 exposure at the storefront.
Alsop and other WVU officials warned students to continue to take precautions like wearing facial coverings and keeping distance from others. They acknowledged that many in-person student activities are unlikely to resume right away.
“Covid has not gone away,” said Dr. Jeffrey Coben, associate vice president of health affairs and dean of the School of Public Health,
“The real key to our success will be our own personal and collective behaviors. That’s the secret sauce.”
WVU moved its classes online as coronavirus numbers spiked and after a series of incidents where students gathered at parties and bars without facial coverings.
The university says it has sent a strong message to discourage those behaviors.
- About 120 students have received, or will receive, covid-19-related sanctions, up to and including probation
- 30 students have been placed on interim suspension pending hearings
- 24 students have been suspended
- 3 students have been placed on deferred suspension
- 3 students’ sanctions were reduced to probation after their hearings
- 4 students are awaiting possible hearings
After all that, “We believe there has been a change of behavior,” Alsop said.
University officials said classroom activities are believed to have a minimal role in virus transmission. They cited a low positivity rate among faculty so far.
“We believe our classroom protocols we have in place are working. We think most of the spread is occurring off campus,” Alsop said.
WVU started the semester with most upperclassmen taking classes virtually. Freshmen, graduate students and some technical fields were taking classes in person.
That meant about 70 percent of classes were online with the remaining 30 percent in person.
Although the university at one point held out hope of expanding its in-classroom offerings, that is now doubtful.
“In light of our recent spike that required us to temporarily move online that we’re not going to be putting more classes face to face,” said MaryAnne Reed, provost and vice president for academic affairs. ”
We will stick with the plan we established at the beginning of the semester.”
University officials encouraged students, faculty and staff to take part in coronavirus testing.
Free community testing will be available every Wednesday at the Student Recreation Center for all WVU students, employees and residents of Monongalia County. It is not necessary to have covid-19 symptoms to get tested.
“I want to encourage everyone to get tested as regularly and frequently as possible,” Coben said.
University officials also warned that flu season is likely to bring another risk. They said the same precautions — facial coverings and distancing — could help suppress the spread of both flu and covid.
“I want to emphasize again: Get your flu vaccine,” Alsop said. “It’s incredibly important that we continue our good habits and practices of wearing masks.”