Coronavirus In West Virginia: 14 WVU Students Test Positive For COVID-19 After Returning From Spring Break
GREENE COUNTY (KDKA) -- Fourteen students at West Virginia University tested positive for coronavirus after coming back from spring break.
"These students went spring breaking and came back from spring break, not all exactly the same destination," says Vice President & Executive Dean for Health Sciences Dr. Clay Marsh.
When some of them started feeling sick, they got tested as a group
Most of the students were tested in Morgantown through the WVU Hospital lab.
"These students, as I understand it, were back in Morgantown, but were not back at the university," Marsh said.
WVU's campus closed on March 20.
The university became aware of the positive tests on April 8.
The Monongalia County Health Department has contacted all of the infected students.
"Make sure they're doing OK, make sure that they are self-quarantining. Nobody's in the hospital at this point. There is an active contact investigation going on," Marsh said.
While the students are isolating at home, they may not be at their family's home, especially if the illness began while away.
"We would ask the student in that situation not to go back to their families. We want to isolate them so they can't spread this virus," Marsh said.
Dr. Marsh says the Kaiser Family Foundation identified West Virginia as the most vulnerable state for coronavirus due to its older population and chronic medical illnesses.
He says 82% of the state's coronavirus cases recover at home and 17% require hospitalization.
