MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Positive cases of COVID-19 on the WVU campus in Morgantown have been dropping steadily over the last month since WVU reopened the campus for in-person classes for some students after taking a pause following an early semester outbreak.
WVU Vice President Rob Alsop said WVU administered 318 COVID-19 tests Wednesday with only two positive tests and 501 on Tuesday when only three tests came back positive. WVU was recording up to 60 positive cases a day in mid-September. The positive test rate is now well under 1%, Alsop said.
“The students who tested positive at the university have declined significantly for the past month. We came back into courses on September 28 and thankfully we have not seen an uptick in cases in terms of our students and faculty testing positive at the university,” Alsop said Thursday during an appearance on MetroNews “Talkline.”
Correspondingly, the number of students who have had to isolate has also decreased. Alsop said on Sept. 15 there were 84 students isolated in Arnold Apartments, Thursday there were only two students.
Alsop credits three big reasons for the decrease in positive cases.
“I think the pause that we did was affective in breaking that chain of transmission and showing students to take it seriously,” Alsop said. “Also, the CDC and WVU did a study on the campus over the past few weeks and they found 85% of our faculty and students who they watched around campus and in the buildings were wearing masks.”
.@jrobalsop, VP for Strategic Initiatives at WVU, talks with @HoppyKercheval about WVU covid updates, enrollment, and budget. WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIRZCB pic.twitter.com/z9R7c88e6E
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) October 29, 2020
WVU suspended some students and put others on probation in connection with violations of COVID-19 guidelines that were committed during the first few weeks of the semester. Gov. Jim Justice also reinstituted a ban on bars in Monongalia County days after the semester began. The bars have since been allowed to reopen but are being watched closely by the state Alcohol Beverage Control Agency.
Back on campus, Alsop said WVU can’t drop its guard because of the improving numbers. He said the university will also be prepared for a new spike when students return to campus following an extended break that will stretch from Thanksgiving into mid-January.
“We’ll have Arnold ready to go for isolation. Our contact tracers will still very much be up and running. All of those protocols will be in place for the spring as well and if during the first couple of weeks we see an increase in cases we’ll be prepared to handle it,” Alsop said.
WVU plans to increase the number of in-person classes for the spring semester. Currently, about 35% of all courses have some kind of in-person component. Alsop said that will increase to about 45% in the spring. The university plans to add some senior and capstone experience classes, however most of the in-person classes will continue to be for freshmen and graduate students.
“It will look a lot like the fall,” Alsop said.
That includes 50 percent density in classrooms, masks and plexiglass. There will also be what Alsop called robust testing.
WVU stopped its limited in-person schedule and went to all online courses on Sept. 9. The university returned to its in-person schedule on Sept. 28.