WVU conducts free Covid-19 coronavirus testing for faculty and staff in the parking lot near the Coliseum (WVU Photo/Scott Lituchy)
West Virginia University is providing additional COVID-19 data to help the campus and surrounding community have a better understanding of positive test results, monitoring and response protocols.
WVU moved last week to ongoing testing focused on symptomatic individuals and sample testing of certain groups, including those living in residence halls, participating in athletics and in performing arts, among others, as necessary.
As a result, the daily percentage of positive COVID-19 tests, available on the University’s public-facing COVID-19 testing dashboard, was expected to increase during symptomatic and sample testing, as these tests are for individuals who have COVID-19 symptoms and groups who are more likely to be at risk of contracting COVID-19.
"Our testing is becoming much more focused on potential high-risk groups and individuals on campus as well continuing to identify any cluster outbreaks," Dr. Jeffrey Coben, associate vice president of health affairs and dean of the School of Public Health, said. "We are also receiving self-reported cases from those who have tested positive through off-campus mechanisms such as urgent care clinics and primary care providers."
Additional information, such as numbers in quarantine or isolation, is also being compiled and will be updated on the dashboard in the coming days.
As of today (Aug. 31), 140 students on the Morgantown campus are in isolation. Of those, 15 are isolating on-campus, 108 off-campus and 17 opted to isolate at home (not in Morgantown).
There are currently 472 students on the Morgantown campus quarantining. Of those, 123 are in quarantine on-campus, another 331 off-campus and 18 students decided to quarantine at home (not in Morgantown).
"The majority of students who are in quarantine have been identified as close contacts of someone who has tested positive," Coben said. “Because they are quarantining, they should not be spreading the virus on campus. However, we are watching these cases closely.”
No new cases have been reported on WVU’s Beckley or Keyser campuses.
WVU’s dashboard will continue to be updated Monday-Friday 11 a.m. with information regarding students and employees broken out by campus (Morgantown, Beckley and Keyser). All positive results are sent directly to the state.
Updates are also provided by the University on WVU Safety social media accounts.
Additionally, the University will share trends and other COVID-19 related updates with the public each week or as necessary via WVUToday.
The dashboard should not be used to monitor individual test results. WVU students, faculty and staff should follow the Return to Campus guidelines to access test results.
Additional information and COVID-19 updates are available at WVU’s Return to Campus website.
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ak/08/31/20
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University Relations
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