ODU’s Assistant Vice President for strategic Communication and Marketing sent an email to the ODU community Tuesday giving an update on the ongoing spread of novel coronavirus around the globe. There are currently to known cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) at the university.
ODU announced further measures they plan on implementing to protect the university community from the virus. There will be an implementation of a public incident task force which will make plans on how to further strategically deal with how the coronavirus may impact the campus community. The university has extended the suspension for school sponsored travel in countries with CDC warning levels two and three for the coronavirus. The countries that have been suspended for travel by the university are China, Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea. The university has also cancelled its study abroad trips to Italy, Ireland, and Thailand for the spring semester.
The university states that any students, faculty and staff who are returning from locations with a CDC warning level three travel health notice for corona virus must not return to the campus or any other ODU facilities. The school advises that those who have traveled to these warning level three locations to self-quarantine for fourteen days as well.
On March 9, news broke out about a couple from Virginia Beach being diagnosed with coronavirus making it the first two known cases of the virus in the Hampton roads area. The woman is 58-years old and the man is 68-years old. It is believed by the couple that they contracted the virus while oversees on a cruise trip on the Nile River in Egypt.
On March 11, ODU announced that spring break will be extended an extra week and all in-person classes will conducted online for the forseeable future. Updates will be provided to students by April 6 at the latest.
Stay updated with the latest information regarding the corona virus and other public health related information. The CDC provides resources on how to protect yourself from viruses on their website.
