West Virginia University graduates will return to in-person commencement ceremonies this May; and although some restrictions will be in place because of COVID-19, the celebrations will be no less memorable for the 4,499 who walk across the stage to receive their diplomas. Graduates from May, August and December 2020 are also eligible to participate in the exercises.
Under the quiet surface of near-stilled campuses over the past year, West Virginia University researchers, faculty and administrators have scrambled to learn more about COVID-19 and mitigate its spread, calculated how to teach online and hybrid classes and figured out how to better ensure people on those campuses could remain safe from the virulent disease that has killed more than 500,000 U. S. citizens to date.
The COVID-19 pandemic created a barrier to care for West Virginians living with chronic disease, meaning many residents needed to find a new way of managing their health. The West Virginia Prevention Research Center, housed in the West Virginia University School of Public Health, is providing support to organizations that needed to quickly adjust their focus, an extension of its already community-focused mission.
Eligible, degree-seeking students at any West Virginia University campus can receive emergency grants through the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund II, part of the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act. WVU will continue distributing its allotted $10,087,116 in emergency grants to students who qualify.
West Virginia University confirmed three cases of the COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7 have been detected in the Morgantown area – two are WVU students. Genetic sequencing of samples from the WVU Medicine testing program detected the B.1.1.7 variant in Morgantown campus test samples analyzed this week. The University is working closely with the Monongalia County Health Department in its case investigation and contact tracing. It is believed that the three individuals who have tested positive for the variant are related to one another and have not visited the WVU campus during their infectious period.
In an ongoing effort to support West Virginia University’s commitment to keeping its campus community and others safe, the School of Public Health is partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to conduct an eight-week mask observation study.
A free smartphone app is now available for state residents who are searching for connection while struggling with substance use disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic.
lassifying a death as suicide may be easiest for medical examiners and coroners in the western United States, which reports the highest suicide rates officially. Suicide by firearm is the leading method there, and usually clear in terms of evidence.
Pregnancy doesn’t have to sabotage athletes’ fitness. Shon Rowan—a researcher with the WVU School of Medicine—and his colleagues used a wearable device called WHOOP to monitor the heart rate and heart rate variability of women before they conceived, throughout pregnancy and after giving birth. The data that the researchers collected from the WHOOP devices suggests that some women may be in better shape after delivering their babies than they were before they became pregnant.
Dr. Brian Hendricks, a research assistant professor with the West Virginia University School of Public Health’s Department of Epidemiology, is trying to better understand the needs of a historically underserved population in West Virginia — pregnant women with substance use disorder.