WVU seeks to move beyond pandemic
School says vaccines and therapeutics better enable it to fight disease long term
Widespread vaccine availability, better therapeutics and the experience of two difficult years with COVID-19 is leading West Virginia University to begin transitioning from COVID-19 the pandemic to COVID-19 the persistent disease “that will be with us for the foreseeable future” but one it’s now better able to fight.
The university Thursday said it will transfer its COVID-19 dashboards from the current Return to Campus website, as well as other pandemic information and related resources, to a new website. It can be found at wvu.edu/ covid, starting on Monday.
The university’s final update will be Friday, as the university prepares to host in-person school commencement this weekend.
COVID-19 dashboards of various kinds became ubiquitous on public and private college and university websites since case counts and hospitalizations helped frame decisions about if and to what extent students in 2020, 2021 and 2022 could resume in-person instruction.
The nation continues to monitor a virus now linked to nearly 1 million deaths in the U.S. and its variants of varying severity and scope.
“While this virus will be with us for the foreseeable future, and we will continue to closely monitor disease trends, we now have widespread access to vaccines, better therapeutics and the knowledge of the past two years to better guide our individual decisions about how to protect ourselves and others around us in the community,” said Dr. Jeffrey Coben, dean of the School of Public Health and associate vice president for health affairs.
“All of these can help us successfully navigate the evolution of COVID-19.”
The university has not required all to be vaccinated, but continues to strongly encourage it, officials said in a statement Thursday. It recommended individuals get “their primary vaccine series and (stay) up to date with a booster dose if they are eligible to receive one for optimal protection.”
WVU officials recommend that to determine those who can and should receive a booster shot (or any COVID-19 shot), members of the public should use the state’s COVID-19 Vaccination Due Date Calculator. It can be found at vaccinate.wv.gov.
WVU Medicine Student Health will continue to provide the Pfizer vaccine for WVU students at its clinic in the Health and Education Building on the Morgantown campus, officials said. Walk- in appointments are offered during regular business hours.
Upcoming vaccine clinics will be posted at book. novelhealth. ai/ MCHDC.
“COVID-19 tests are now readily available through local health departments, pharmacies and through the federal government’s website, covidtests.gov, which allows people to sign up for a maximum of two sets of four free COVID-19 tests, which will be shipped directly to the individual’s household,” the statement read.
Those with any COVID19 symptoms should not report to campus for work or class, officials urged. All WVU community members are required to report if they test positive for COVID-19 or are quarantining due to suspected or known exposure to COVID-19.
Officials said those with questions, including those about safety protocols, can contact via email or phone — SharedServices@ or 304-293-6006.
WVU did not indicate if any specific infection trends on campus contributed to Thursday’s announcement.
“COVID-19 is evolving and the university, as with many other entities worldwide, is doing the same,” said Shauna Johnson, director of news, communications and media relations for WVU. “University health officials will continue to closely monitor emerging variants with plans to make adjustments as necessary.
“We recognize that case counts will fluctuate and, regardless of that, as we continue to monitor the data, the end of this semester with many students leaving town gave us confidence that this was a good time to begin making this transition,” she added.