Updates to COVID-19 Protocols
West Virginia University at Parkersburg
Effective Monday, July 25, 2022
Please note the following changes to our protocols effective Monday, July 25, 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. Face coverings are not 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. Any faculty member who plans to require masks in the classroom should notify all of his, her, or their students before the start of the semester.
- 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 work space 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.
- 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.
3. Masks will not be required in common areas of facilities.
4. 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.
5. 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 isolate for 5 days. 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.
Be advised 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.