All Stories

As West Virginia moves forward with reopening plans, it is critical for businesses of all types to prepare their workplaces and employees for controlling and reducing the risk of transmission of the COVID-19 virus in the workplace. West Virginia University Extension Service Safety and Health Extension Professor Mark Fullen provides some general workplace safety guidelines for businesses as the state continues the reopening process. Recommendations and guidelines are being revised often, so it is important to check resources frequently as new information is learned.

“To mask or to not mask” is no longer the primary question dominating the COVID-19 public discourse. As states reopen amid the pandemic, the question now is, “Should face coverings be required in public?” Dr. Robert Gerbo, director of Occupational Medicine at West Virginia University, addressed that debate and unmasked his expertise on when and how to cover up.

Twenty-three West Virginia University Army ROTC Mountaineer Battalion Cadets will commission as second lieutenants during the Annual Spring Commissioning Ceremony that will be conducted online because of the COVID-19 restrictions.

A West Virginia University consumer law expert says recent announcements by Apple and Google that they’re developing a system to enable widespread contact tracing in an effort to contain the COVID-19 pandemic raises significant questions beyond whether such a plan might even be effective. Jonathan Marshall, director of The Center for Consumer Law and Education, believes concerns over privacy and data security can be addressed but a potentially larger issue exists related to these smartphone technologies.

Logan Forquer, an upcoming junior studying mechanical engineering and student worker at the Innovation Hub, made the protective gear over the past month using a high-power Waterjet that cuts the components of the face shields from large sheets of polycarbonate. He rigged a GoPro above the WaterJet so he can watch a live view of the machine on an iPad while working in the next room. This allowed Forquer to assist other staff members in the Hub, do class work or study for his final exams.

As most attention in the United States focuses on public health and the economy, entomologists have their eyes on the Asian giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) recently discovered in the state of Washington. Brian Lovett, entomologist and post-doctoral fellow in the West Virginia University Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design, describes the species, why its arrival is concerning and how it became known as the “murder hornet.”

In recent weeks, the U.S. has seen closures among a number of its poultry processing facilities due to the coronavirus pandemic, leaving producers without a market for their products and raising consumer concerns over an impending shortage. Though the poultry processing facilities in the Eastern Panhandle haven’t yet seen the same outbreaks or closures, West Virginia University Extension Service experts Joe Moritz and Alexandria Smith weigh in on the current struggles West Virginia poultry producers are facing as a result of COVID-19.

In response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many meat processing and food production facilities have temporarily closed or reduced operations, raising concerns about shortages and the safety of our nation’s food supply. West Virginia University Extension Service Livestock Specialist Kevin Shaffer provides some insight about West Virginia’s beef supply and what we can do to help producers and fellow consumers.

Geoffrey Bradford practices at the West Virginia University Eye Institute. He also directs the residency program in the School of Medicine’s Department Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and he is the department’s vice-chair of education. He has tips for keeping SARS-CoV-2—the virus that causes COVID-19—out of our eyes. And none of them involve handcuffs or a doggie cone.

Students in Noah Trudeau’s class at West Virginia University are learning principles of economics through video games, a method Trudeau, a doctoral student in the John Chambers College of Business and Economics developed as the COVID-19 pandemic was escalating. He implemented the approach just before WVU students were sent home for the remainder of the semester and they now use the games to question pandemic-related events, including why some products are leaving store shelves quicker than others.