West Virginia University students will be able to more easily focus on transitioning to online courses during the COVID-19 outbreak instead of being troubled about maintaining their scholarship eligibility during the end of the spring semester, as the University has taken steps to continue making higher education affordable.
With West Virginia reporting its first case of exposure to the new coronavirus this week, the use of telemedicine could be vital to keeping the state's older residents safe. Stephen Davis, associate professor at the West Virginia University School of Public Health, is conducting a pilot program on telemedicine in the Mountain State. He says the Trump administration's expansion of telehealth for Medicare patients will help the state prevent high-risk individuals from being exposed to the virus in health-care environments. "Telehealth will enable us to be able to deliver some type of health care without having to have some type of interaction with healthcare workers that, sadly, may be infected or become infected themselves," says Davis.
In West Virginia, the health infrastructure—one required for a response to the coronavirus—has been hollowed out. Dr. Michael Brumage, director of the Preventive Medicine Residency Program in the School of Public Health and director of Cabin Creek Health Systems, explains why in an article he wrote for The Atlantic.
During an emergency West Virginia University Board of Governors meeting Wednesday, Vice President and Executive Dean for Health Sciences Dr. Clay Marsh gave updates on COVID-19 and its potential impact on the Mountain State.
With the University's announcement yesterday that the remainder of the semester will be online, the following will be in effect for the School of Nursing on all our campuses. Please read the following carefully.
West Virginia University and its divisional campuses in Keyser and Beckley will extend alternative delivery of classes through the rest of the semester in response to the continued threat of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. Additionally, all employees – except for those needed to keep online operations running and a select few others – must work from home, and residence halls will remain shuttered.
WVU BeWell is reaching out to all Health Sciences students to provide them guidance and support through the coronavirus outbreak.
Several exterior entrances at the WVU Health Sciences Center will be closed to the public and locked.
A message from Clay Marsh, MD, vice president and executive dean, WVU Health Science.
BeWell's Dr. Jen Randall Reyes pens blog on "Coronavirus Stress and Resilience."