Updates to COVID-19 Protocols

West Virginia University at Parkersburg

Effective Monday, Feb. 28, 2022

As you know, WVU Parkersburg has taken a careful posture in creating and implementing COVID-19 protocols, more restrictive than some peer institutions in West Virginia and nationwide. While we do not regret this posture and would take it again under the same circumstances, and while it has resulted in minimal community spread at WVUP, it is time for us to relax our protocols just as most states, communities, and institutions of higher learning are doing nationally.
In consultation with the Chair of the Board of Governors, the WVUP COVID-19 task force which represents all major stakeholder groups, and the entire executive team of the college which is in full consensus support, I am implementing the following changes to our protocols effective Monday, February 28, 2022, and unless and until further notice:

1. Face coverings will be encouraged inside all WVUP facilities when either Wood County or Jackson County, West Virginia, is designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an area of “high” community spread. Wood and Jackson Counties are selected as the deciding counties because WVUP has facilities located in both of these counties.

2. Effective as indicated, however, face coverings are no longer required by WVUP of its students, employees, or guests, with some exceptions noted below:
A. During times of high community spread as described above, any faculty member at his, her, or their sole discretion may require face coverings to be worn by anyone participating in a face-to-face class taught by that faculty member in the space assigned and for the duration of the class. Students who prefer not to be subject to this requirement of an individual faculty member may participate in a virtual option for the class in question if such an option is available. Any faculty member who plans to require masks in the classroom should notify all of his, her, or their students before February 28. Students should assume masks will not be required in classrooms or by faculty members from whom they have not received notification prior to February 28.
B. During times of high community spread as described above, any employee who is at heightened risk for severe illness or who chooses to do so for any reason may require all others to wear a face-covering when entering his, her, or their assigned workspace for the duration while the others are within their assigned workspace. In order to enforce this condition on others, the employee must also wear a face-covering when others are in his, her, or their workspace. Signs designating, “Face Coverings Required in This Work Space” may be secured from the Office of the President.
C. Students in clinical rotations at facilities of area healthcare providers, in field placements at area schools, or in similar situations wherein the facilities are not governed by WVUP will be expected to follow the protocols of those partners while located within the facilities of those partners, even if their protocols conflict with WVUP’s protocols. These are not requirements of WVUP, but of individual partners.

3. Masks will not be required in common areas of facilities.

4. Random surveillance testing will immediately cease for the foreseeable future.

5. The college will attempt to keep a limited number of rapid test kits available at no charge which may be obtained from J.B. Skidmore when available.

6. Anyone who comes within WVUP’s facilities face-to-face and who tests positive for COVID-19 must continue to immediately report positive test results to J.B. Skidmore at this email address: reportcovid@wvup.edu. Those who are positive must follow current isolation from campus requirements. J.B. will continue to send messages to those known to have come into contact with a positive case. Isolation protocols have not changed. Please refer to earlier guidance. Asymptomatic people who were exposed to a known positive case, but who have not tested positive and who remain asymptomatic, do not have to isolate from campus.

7. The administration still recommends conducting meetings and events by Zoom when practical for the foreseeable future and requires that any face-to-face events planned in our facilities or as an extension of WVUP must be approved in advance through the Office of the President by the Chief of Staff. We will, however, be incrementally relaxing our standards for approving such events in future, particularly those which have an academic function or are directly in service to students.

Medical and public health experts and authorities are split in their assessment of the trajectory of COVID-19, but the majority seem to believe it is trending in a much better direction for the present. The local health department has suspended contact tracing, although WVUP will keep contact notification in place for the present in an attempt to provide the maximum information available for individuals to make their own health choices. It is our responsibility individually and as a community to remain vigilant to protect ourselves and those around us, and the health and safety of this community remain my paramount concern. Most states are relaxing or removing face coverings protocols and opening facilities up more fully for public use, and WVUP must participate in the reshaping of community norms. Toward that end, you will also see our facilities reopening to more public events in the coming weeks and months.
Be advised, however, that the administration reserves the right at any time to revert to more restrictive protocols if it deems doing so necessary to protect the health and safety of our community.

As with all of our protocols, this document adds to the repository of COVID-19 protocols already provided and supersedes in authority any earlier document with which it might conflict. Anyone who wishes to continue wearing a face covering at WVUP should be supported in making that individual choice, just as any employee who enforces face coverings in his, her, or their workspaces as outlined above should be supported. Those choices are just as valid as the choice not to wear a face-covering which the administration is now providing to all who enter WVUP’s facilities, within the exceptions noted herein. We will continue to fully enforce all current COVID-19 protocols. The administration will continue to closely monitor the situation and will update our protocols as/if indicated. As always, we welcome questions or suggestions, and we thank you for your cooperation.