Dean of Students Allen Groves said that he thinks students have observed the University’s health and safety guidelines — including mask-wearing, limiting travel and adhering to gathering restrictions — this semester.
Though Groves acknowledged that the decision to lower the gathering limit to five people earlier in the semester was “frustrating to some people,” he said the restriction was necessary in order to decrease the number of COVID-19 cases. According to the University’s COVID-19 tracker, the community saw a significant decrease in COVID-19 cases following the announcement, which was made Sept. 22. The gathering restriction has since been increased to 10. In a Nov. 15 email, Groves urged students to “recognize some recent slippage” in their commitment to the University’s COVID-19 policies. In particular, he pointed to large weekend gatherings along Rugby Road, Gordon Avenue and at a local winery in Albemarle County. Read the full story from The Cavalier Daily HERE.
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The Cavalier Daily: U.Va. leadership considers fall semester a success, looks ahead to spring11/19/2020 Ahead of the fall semester, President Jim Ryan said that some of his administration’s goals were to bring students back and give them as positive of an experience as possible while being safe, as well as to not endanger the Charlottesville community. Under these metrics, Ryan said that he would consider the semester a success.
“Back in August and early September, most people were saying it was going to be impossible for us to have students back, to keep them safe and keep classes in person, and that's essentially what's happened,” Ryan said. This semester, approximately 30 percent of University classes were conducted with an in-person component. University administrators have seen no evidence of COVID-19 transmission within these classroom environments. Magill noted that in looking toward the spring semester, increasing the University’s in-person offerings is a major academic priority — one that has been helped by increased testing capacity and the knowledge that there has been no known classroom transmission. All students will be required to participate in pre-arrival testing through LetsGetChecked prior to returning to Grounds in February following an extended winter break. The University plans to conduct post-arrival testing of all students within five to seven days of the start of the semester. Prevalence testing, symptomatic testing and wastewater testing will continue throughout the spring semester. Read the full story from The Cavalier Daily HERE. The University plans to continue the opt-in credit/general credit/no credit grading policy it adopted halfway through the fall semester for J-Term classes and the spring 2021 semester, Provost Liz Magill announced in a University-wide email Monday afternoon. The decision comes after consultation with students, deans and faculty members, Magill said.
Students enrolled in J-Term classes will have the opportunity to switch to the credit-based system from their enrollment date until 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 4 — the first day of J-Term classes. All J-Term classes will take place virtually and are included in tuition for the 2020-2021 academic year. The date by which students can opt-in to the credit-based system for the spring semester has not yet been determined. Magill said that University Registrar Laura Hawthorne will send students additional information on this timeframe in early December. Classes taken for credit will not count towards a student’s GPA but will count for curricular, major and graduation requirements. Read more by The Cavalier Daily HERE. The past eight months have left many COVID-19 questions unanswered. Earlier this summer, there was even more confusion about the virus’s long-term impact on the organs. To monitor those long-term health effects, Drs. Chintan Ramani and Alexandra Kadl on June 2 opened up a post-release clinic for patients discharged from U.Va. Medical Center’s COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit.
“For the ICU patients, we typically follow up with them about six weeks afterwards and assess their pulmonary health as well as their mental health,” Kadl, an assistant professor for medicine and pharmacology, said. “We have some screening forms for PTSD, for depression, for insomnia 一 for the cognitive function they do a [Montreal Cognitive Assessment] test to evaluate any issues there.” So far, Kadl and Ramani said that their patients have been in relatively good health at the six week check-up. On July 30, Ramani published their initial findings in the medical journal Chest and reported that, of their 102 patients admitted to the ICU — all of whom were admitted for being “very sick” according to Kadl — 22 died, 21 remained hospitalized and 59 were discharged alive. Kadl also said that although their patients’ respiratory systems were more affected than their cognitive function, their lung health was still generally improved at the initial checkups. As of Wednesday at 1:58 p.m., there were 20 inpatients at U.Va. Health confirmed with COVID-19 — nine of whom were in the Intensive Care Special Pathogens Unit and an additional nine in the Acute Care Special Pathogens Unit — according to an update sent to U.Va. Health employees obtained by The Cavalier Daily. 10 inpatients confirmed with COVID-19 were also being treated on ventilators at U.Va. Health. Although recent numbers in the ICU have been low, Ramani is confident that it, along with the post-discharge clinic, are prepared to handle an increase in patient load. Read more from The Cavalier Daily HERE. The Daily Progress: Winter is coming to Central Virginia, causing concerns of COVID resurgence10/30/2020 The rate of community COVID-19 transmission remains relatively low in Central Virginia, but the virus remains alive and well, according to figures released by the Virginia Department of Health.
Most of the region is reporting lower rates of positive testing than the overall state figures, a sign that the virus is not running rampant in the community, although two long-term care facilities reported new outbreaks in October. Charlottesville reported 1.8% of tests returning positive and Albemarle County reported 1.9% of tests coming back positive during the past two weeks. Thomas Jefferson Health District officials say they are concerned that cases could increase dramatically as winter comes to Central Virginia and colder weather moves traditional family gatherings indoors. “In the past few weeks we’ve seen a valley in the number of cases with the University of Virginia cases and really low community transmission,” said Ryan McKay, of the Thomas Jefferson Health District. “With the approaching holidays and traditionally large family gatherings, it’s giving us cause for concern.” McKay said residents should consider postponing travel and large family gatherings this year as cases of COVID-19 surge across the country. Spikes in the number of cases usually lead to a surge in hospitalizations that could overwhelm medical facilities, making it difficult to provide adequate care to critical patients. Read the full story by The Daily Progress HERE. The Daily Progress: Patient's positive COVID test puts some UVa hospital staff in quarantine10/30/2020 A patient who transferred into a unit at the University of Virginia Medical Center late last week from another facility has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, forcing some staff members to quarantine, according to hospital officials.
The patient was in a private room and did not have direct contact with other patients. Officials said they are tracing the patient’s contacts to advise them of the positive test. Read the story from The Daily Progress HERE. The University’s COVID-19 Tracker reported 12 new cases of COVID-19 in the University community between Sunday and Wednesday. Currently, there are 56 active cases of COVID-19 among students, faculty, staff and contracted employees. Active cases are those currently in isolation who have tested positive for the virus within the past 10 days. Among those with active cases, 43 are students and 13 are University faculty, staff or contract employees.
The daily average number of new cases among University faculty, staff and students was three from Oct. 25 through Oct. 28. The number of daily average new cases has remained below 10 since the week of Oct. 11. A total of 5,041 tests were administered within the University community last week with 51 tests producing positive results — a positivity rate of 1.01 percent. Of these, 4,626 tests were students with 41 testing positive. Read more from The Cavalier Daily HERE. The University’s Student Health and Wellness Center has canceled its annual flu shot clinic due to concerns about COVID-19 transmission, but the University is still encouraging students and faculty to get vaccinated through other means as the ongoing pandemic threatens to make this year’s influenza season even more complex.
“We surveyed the availability of flu vaccine locally and determined that students would have access to flu shots at multiple accessible locations,” said Jamie Leonard, director of the Office of Health Promotion, in an email to The Cavalier Daily. Read more from The Cavalier Daily HERE. The Cavalier Daily: Students share their concerns on how U.Va. has been handling the pandemic10/23/2020 As the semester progresses, COVID-19 protocols and safety procedures have been frequently updated to ensure students’ and faculty members’ safety on Grounds. In response to these new adjustments, students share their concerns regarding COVID-19 testing, dining hall procedures, football games and more as they face challenges and struggles adjusting to school.
First-year College student Yuni Choi lives in Woody dormitory where several students tested positive for COVID-19 in September. In the days following their positive results, Choi became frustrated with how the University handled and organized COVID-19 testings in the first-year dorms. “Four girls on my floor got [COVID-19] … but U.Va. wouldn’t test the other girls in my dorm unless we were having symptoms,” Choi said. “This was incredibly frustrating and inconsiderate of U.Va. to bring students on Grounds but not provide free, adequate support and testing when people have most likely been exposed to the virus.” On Oct. 13, the University announced changes to its approach to student testing, now requiring that all students living in on-Grounds residence halls be tested at least once every nine days. The efforts include expanded testing for students living off-Grounds as well. Read the full story by The Cavalier Daily HERE. The University's spring semester will have a delayed start on Feb. 1, a two-week delay from the academic calendar's initial start date of Jan. 20, Provost Liz Magill and Chief Operating Officer J.J. Davis said in a University-wide email Thursday.
Classes will end May 6, and the traditional weeklong Spring Break will be canceled to limit travel to and from Charlottesville. The University will instead implement plans for multiple shorter breaks throughout the semester. In addition, all courses will include an online component, with some exceptions, like the fall semester. Read the full article by The Cavalier Daily HERE. After suspending all in-person activities amid the coronavirus pandemic, both the Inter-Sorority Council and Inter-Fraternity Council decided to hold virtual spring recruitment, while the National Pan-Hellenic Council is uncertain about plans for spring member intake.
Though formal recruitment will occur virtually for the safety of those involved and to allow all interested students to participate, the ISC is planning for sororities to hold in-person bid day events. Read more from The Cavalier Daily HERE.
The Cavalier Daily highlights the student activism that led to U.Va. offering a credit/general credit/no credit grading option this semester.
A month after move-in, first-year students at U.Va. share their thoughts and experiences halfway through the semester. Read the story HERE.
The Cavalier Daily explores what in-person classes look like right now from the perspective of both students and professors.
The University began implementing its new prevalence testing initiative last week, which uses saliva samples to procure rapid results across the University community. 557 saliva screening tests were administered between Oct. 1 and Oct. 8. Out of those tests, 537 were negative, 12 positive, four inconclusive and four were categorized as invalid.
“Our approach if the results are inconclusive or invalid is to test the saliva sample a second time,” University spokesperson Wes Hester said in an email to the Cavalier Daily. “Positive outcomes are reviewed by an expert and repeated in borderline cases.” As part of the University’s prevalence screening initiative, the saliva testing program is primarily intended to catch and stop potential outbreaks in the community through identification of asymptomatic carriers. Read the rest of The Cavalier Daily story HERE. The University’s COVID Tracker reported 21 new cases of COVID-19 from tests conducted on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as the weeklong positivity rate dipped to 2.3 percent from 7.2 percent two weeks ago.
U.Va. also saw a major decrease in the number of active cases on and around Grounds. Monday’s update said that there were only 99 active cases in the University community, down from the 219 reported last Thursday. While Saturday and Sunday caseloads are typically lower than the number of cases on weekdays, this is the lowest Friday, Saturday and Sunday caseload the University has had in recent weeks. Between Sept. 25 and Sept. 27, there were 81 new cases, and there were 55 new cases reported during the weekend from Oct. 2 to Oct. 4. Read the full story from The Cavalier Daily HERE. Students will be able to opt into a credit/general credit/no credit grading system between Nov. 2 and Nov. 6 for their classes this semester. Unlike last semester, when credit/general credit/no credit was the default option for grades, students must opt in no later than Nov. 6 — about one month before final exams.
The decision was made with “unanimous agreement” from undergraduate school deans, as well as engagement with students, student leaders and faculty and staff, who have cited higher levels of anxiety, stress and other challenges related to the pandemic. Read the full story by The Cavalier Daily HERE. The Cavalier Daily: Daily average number of new COVID-19 cases among U.Va. community dips to 1410/9/2020 The daily average number of new cases of COVID-19 in the University community dropped to 14 this week, after four weeks of daily averages at or above 20. Last week, from Sept. 27 to Oct. 3, the University recorded an average of 26 new cases of COVID-19 per day.
The decreasing daily average comes on the heels of the University’s Sept. 23 implementation of strict COVID-19 guidelines which mandate mask-wearing, restrict travel to and from Charlottesville and prohibit gatherings greater than five. The guidelines will stay in place until at least Oct. 21, the University announced Tuesday. Read the full story by The Cavalier Daily HERE. As of Thursday evening, the U.Va. COVID-19 Tracker reported 53 new cases since Monday. The total number of active cases in the University community is now 219, and 948 total members of the University community have tested positive for the virus since Aug. 17.
In the University community — consisting of students, faculty, staff and contract workers — 19 individuals tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, 15 on Tuesday and 19 on Wednesday. Since Monday, one new hospitalization has been reported by the tracker, bringing the number of admissions this week to three. The total number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital is 19. Read the full story by The Cavalier Daily HERE. Dean of Students Allen Groves announced that the University has decided to extend its new COVID-19 restrictions by two weeks – until Oct. 21 – in an email to students Tuesday afternoon.
The restrictions, first announced two weeks ago in a video message to the community from University President Jim Ryan, require that students not gather in groups greater than five, adhere to mask wearing rules and not travel outside the Charlottesville community. Read the full story from The Cavalier Daily HERE. The University’s COVID-19 Tracker reported a total of 55 new positive cases since Thursday, according to Monday’s update. There are currently 247 active cases in the University community. According to U.Va.’s dashboard, there was an average of 26 cases per day last week, including positive test results from the weekend.
In the University community — which includes students, faculty, staff and contracted workers — 45 individuals tested positive on Friday, 10 on Saturday and zero on Sunday. Sunday was the first time zero cases have been reported on any given day since data collection on the tracker began. The tracker reported that there were three new hospitalizations on Sunday for a total of 25 hospitalizations. As of Monday at 2:47 p.m., there are 17 inpatients at U.Va. Health confirmed with COVID-19 — nine of whom are in the Intensive Care Special Pathogens Unit, seven in the Acute Care Special Pathogens Unit and one in the Surgical Trauma Intensive Care Unit — according to an update sent to U.Va. Health employees obtained by The Cavalier Daily. An additional seven inpatients confirmed with COVID-19 are being treated on ventilators at U.Va. Health. The occupancy of quarantine rooms set aside by the University decreased by nine percent while the percentage of isolation rooms remained the same since the tracker’s last refresh on Oct. 2. On Monday, residents of the Lile-Maupin first-year dorm were notified that the University is conducting asymptomatic prevalence testing after five residents tested positive and wastewater testing indicated early signs of possible infections. Lile-Maupin is the fifth dorm to undergo mandatory testing, as at least 16 cases were identified in Hancock, 15 in Balz-Dobie, 11 in Kellogg and six in Echols over the past month. Read the full story by The Cavalier Daily HERE.
The Cavalier Daily speaks to students living in the Balz-Dobie and Echols Residence Halls, both of which underwent mandatory quarantine after indicators of a potential COVID-19 outbreak.
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