On March 2, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a recommendation to higher education institutes to postpone or cancel student exchange programs and international travel. This is due to the rapidly increasing number of cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and the growing number of countries experiencing human-to-human transmission of the virus.
Out of an abundance of caution, we have suspended all university-sanctioned international travel over spring break, including all Global Citizenship Project (GCP) and Global Experiential Learning (GEL) trips. We are a global community with a global outreach, but we believe that suspending international travel at this time is the best decision given how rapidly the situation is changing and the potential issues that could arise, including travel restrictions and challenges returning home.
We will examine alternate travel options moving forward.
Students whose Global Citizenship Project (GCP) and Global Experiential Learning (GEL) were canceled are welcome to stay on campus over spring break. The dining hall will be open and food service will be available.
There are currently no confirmed cases of coronavirus at Shenandoah University or in Virginia.
If you are traveling internationally over break, please use standard precautions. Currently, the CDC recommends no recreational travel to and from China, Italy, South Korea and Iran (Level-3 advisory). The CDC has also issued a Level-2 travel advisory to Japan (“practice enhanced precautions”) and a Level-1 travel advisory to Hong Kong (“practice usual precautions”).
Please remember that washing with soap and water is the best way to clean your hands.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds.
- If soap and water are not available, the CDC recommends using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
- The CDC cautions that sanitizers do not get rid of all types of germs, and their effectiveness goes down if your hands are really dirty or greasy. Also, they might not remove chemicals or other contaminants that might be on your hands, like pesticides.
The university task force on coronavirus meets regularly to discuss and monitor the virus and any potential actions that we will need to take in the possible event of viral contraction at our Winchester campus or two Northern Virginia locations.
Preparations are being made to move university operations and classes online if our campus community becomes impacted by the virus.
If you have any questions, please call the Wilkins Wellness Center at (540) 665-4530.
