COVID-19, also known as Coronavirus, is a new respiratory virus first identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Learn about COVID-19 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website.

Current symptoms reported for patients with COVID-19 have included mild to severe respiratory illness with fever, cough, and difficulty breathing. Read about COVID-19 symptoms.

Complications of COVID-19 include bilateral pneumonia (pneumonia in both lungs), multiple organ failure, and in some cases, death. It is important to note that 80% of cases are classified as mild to moderate and do not progress to these complications. Severe complications are more common among older adults and those with underlying health conditions such as COPD, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. The case fatality rate is decreasing over time as more cases are identified and supportive treatment improves.

This virus probably emerged from an animal source originally and is now known to spread from person to person. The virus that causes COVID-19 seems to be spreading easily and sustainably in the community ("community spread") in some affected geographic areas. Other human coronaviruses most commonly spread from an infected person to others through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes, close personal contact (such as caring for or living with an infected person), or touching an object or surface with the virus on it and then touching your mouth, nose or eyes before washing your hands.

Read more about the transmission of COVID-19.

As of Friday, March 27, one case of COVID-19 has been reported among a member of the Monarch community. The individual is not on-campus and is self-quarantining per guidance from the Virginia Department of Health (VDH). Should additional cases be identified, appropriate communications as guided by VDH will occur. For information on COVID-19 cases in Virginia, visit http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/coronavirus/.

The best preventative steps for any communicable disease include simple but important measures to practice as part of your daily routine, but especially during flu season:

• Get a flu shot - it is not too late.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.
• Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer (>60% alcohol) when handwashing with soap/water is not readily available.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid sharing anything that has come in contact with saliva such as cups, eating utensils, plates, bedding, towels, and clothing whether in your living or social environments.
• Frequently clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces such as doorknobs, keyboards, phones, tables, countertops, tablets, bathroom fixtures, and television remotes using regular household cleaning spray or wipes
• Stay home when you are sick.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
• Get adequate sleep and eat well-balanced meals to ensure a healthy immune system.
• Regularly wash dishes, clothes, and bedding.
• Avoid shaking hands, use fist bumps, elbow bumps, or toe taps for greetings.
• Additional information is available from the CDC, including dos and don'ts.

As a member of the ODU campus community, if you believe you have had close contact with someone who has been tested for COVID-19 or who is believed to have COVID-19, it is important that you complete the form found at this link.

This form is intended to help us understand how the virus is impacting you and who among the campus community may need our attention and assistance.

In addition, you should self-isolate yourself from others until the test results have been received showing the person is negative for COVID-19. Should the test results show the person has tested positive for COVID-19 you need to self-isolate for an additional 14 days since your last contact with the person who tested positive. You should also beware that if you have had close contact with family or close friends of the person who tested positive those persons may be carriers of the virus which would increase your self-isolation time according to the last contact with those persons.

Guidelines for self-quarantine from the CDC include:

• Restriction of activities outside of your home except for visits to a medical professional for evaluation. This includes avoiding public areas and public transportation.
• Limited contact with other members of the residence, including pets.
• Frequent hand washing.
• Consistent cleaning of all high-touch surfaces such as tables, countertops, doorknobs, keyboards, tablets, bathroom fixtures, television remotes, phones, and other areas.
• Monitoring symptoms, including twice-daily thermometer temperature checks and watching for fever, coughing, or trouble breathing.
• Restricted sharing of such household items as drinking glasses, plates, utensils, bedding, towels, and clothing.
• Regularly washing dishes, clothing, and bedding.

Please keep your dated arrival receipt of travel as this may be asked for to return to an ODU campus location. While in self-isolation, CDC guidelines should be followed to monitor an individual's health and to protect the community from further impact.

Decisions to discontinue a self-quarantine after the time period has passed should be made in consultation with a healthcare professional.

If you develop a fever (greater than 100.4 F/38 C), cough, or have difficulty breathing:

• Students: Contact Student Health Services right away: 757-683-3132. Please do not walk in but call ahead for further instructions.
• Faculty and Staff: Contact your primary care physician via telephone or email.
• We request that you self-isolate pending further instructions from medical professionals. If employees have questions about leave, they can contact ODU Human Resources at 757-683-3042.

For further guidance, see the CDC page, Interim US Guidance for Risk Assessment and Public Health Management of Persons with Potential COVID-19 Exposure in Travel-associated or Community Settings.

If you are a student who self-isolates:

• Contact your instructors via email or telephone to discuss appropriate class adjustments or accommodations.

If you are an instructor with a student who self-isolates and who asks for class adjustments:

• We ask that you consider appropriate adjustment or accommodation.
• Examples include:
  • Allowing students to Zoom into class lectures or use lecture-capture technology to record lectures.
  • Granting some flexibility with course attendance policies.
  • Helping secure a copy of course notes.
  • Modifying deadlines for assignments or exams that normally take place during the course meeting time.
• Faculty members who have questions about how to make appropriate adjustments/accommodations may find assistance with the Office of Educational Accessibility by emailing oea@odu.edu.

If you are a faculty or staff member who self-isolates:

• Consider providing your immediate supervisor with advance notice of your travel plans.
• Coordinate with your immediate supervisor to develop alternate work plans as appropriate.

The CDC and U.S. Department of State issue travel advisories as guidance to travelers to aid in their decision making. It is important to understand these advisories and their meanings.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

• Travel health notices by country
• Types of notices
  • Warning Level 3 (Red): Avoid all non-essential travel to this destination. The outbreak is of high risk to travelers and no precautions are available to protect against the identified increased risk.
  • Alert Level 2 (Yellow): Practice enhanced precautions for this destination. The Travel Health Notice describes additional precautions added, or defines a specific at-risk population.
  • Watch Level 1 (Green): Practicue usual precautions for this destination, as described in the Travel Health Notice and/or on the destination page. This includes being up-to-date on all recommended vaccines and practicing appropriate mosquito avoidance.

U.S. Department of State

• Travel advisories by country
• Types of notices
  • Level 4: Do not travel
  • Level 3: Reconsider travel
  • Level 2: Exercise increased caution
  • Level 1: Exercise normal precautions

ODU urges faculty, staff, and students who have personal plans to travel either internationally or to affected areas in the U.S. to reconsider their travel and to take into account the possibility of travel delays, future quarantines, or prolonged self-isolation when returning to the ODU and Hampton Roads communities. The University strongly recommends not traveling to locations with CDC or State Department Level 3 alerts or higher. ODU encourages faculty and staff to share any travel plans with their department chair, dean, or manager to facilitate University assistance if the need arises. Be aware that even a country not currently experiencing an outbreak could suddenly be declared a high-risk area, posing risks of exposure, difficulty with travel, or immigration barriers upon return to the U.S. For more information, see the CDC travel information website.

All study abroad programs taking place in countries where a CDC Level 3 Travel Health Notice or a U.S. Department of State Level 3 Travel Advisory or higher have been suspended and participants either have or are in the process of returning home to self-quarantine off-campus for 14 days. Other study abroad programs for Spring Semester, Maymester, Summer, and beyond are under evaluation. Study abroad program participants should reach out to their study abroad program leaders for further guidance as it becomes available.

English Language Center program participants should contact the ELC at elc@odu.edu or 757-683-4424 for more information. For other international program participants, including international students and Visiting Scholars, contact the ODU Office of International Programs at oip@odu.edu or 757-683-4419 for guidance and updates.

If you have traveled to an area/region with a Domestic Travel Advisory, International CDC Level 3 Warning, or State Department Level 3 or 4 Warning, in the last 14 days it is important that you complete the form found at this link.

This form is intended to help us understand how the virus is impacting you and who among the campus community may need our attention and assistance.

In an abundance of caution and consistent with guidelines from the CDC and Virginia Department of Health, all travelers originating from, returning from, or connecting through a CDC Warning Level 3 travel notice area or other area(s) identified by ODU as high risk areas, must not return to any ODU campus or facility until they can demonstrate that they have been asymptomatic for a period of 14 days from the date of entering/reentering the United States. Travelers should self-quarantine and follow CDC and local health authority guidelines.

Guidelines for self-quarantine from the CDC include:

• Restriction of activities outside of your home except for visits to a medical professional for evaluation. This includes avoiding public areas and public transportation.
• Limited contact with other members of the residence, including pets.
• Frequent hand washing.
• Consistent cleaning of all high-touch surfaces such as tables, countertops, doorknobs, keyboards, tablets, bathroom fixtures, television remotes, phones, and other areas.
• Monitoring symptoms, including twice-daily thermometer temperature checks and watching for fever, coughing, or trouble breathing.
• Restricted sharing of such household items as drinking glasses, plates, utensils, bedding, towels, and clothing.
• Regularly washing dishes, clothing, and bedding.

Please keep your dated arrival receipt of travel as this may be asked for to return to an ODU campus location. While in self-isolation, CDC guidelines should be followed to monitor an individual's health and to protect the community from further impact.

Decisions to discontinue a self-quarantine after the time period has passed should be made in consultation with a healthcare professional.

If you develop a fever (greater than 100.4 F/38 C), cough, or have difficulty breathing:

• Students: Contact Student Health Services right away: 757-683-3132. Please do not walk in but call ahead for further instructions.
• Faculty and Staff: Contact your primary care physician via telephone or email.
• We request that you self-isolate pending further instructions from medical professionals. If employees have questions about leave, they can contact ODU Human Resources at 757-683-3042.

For further guidance, see the CDC page, Interim US Guidance for Risk Assessment and Public Health Management of Persons with Potential COVID-19 Exposure in Travel-associated or Community Settings.

If you are a student who self-isolates:

• Contact your instructors via email or telephone to discuss appropriate class adjustments or accommodations.

If you are an instructor with a student who self-isolates and who asks for class adjustments:

• We ask that you consider appropriate adjustment or accommodation.
• Examples include:
  • Allowing students to Zoom into class lectures or use lecture-capture technology to record lectures.
  • Granting some flexibility with course attendance policies.
  • Helping secure a copy of course notes.
  • Modifying deadlines for assignments or exams that normally take place during the course meeting time.
• Faculty members who have questions about how to make appropriate adjustments/accommodations may find assistance with the Office of Educational Accessibility by emailing oea@odu.edu.

If you are a faculty or staff member who self-isolates:

• Consider providing your immediate supervisor with advance notice of your travel plans.
• Coordinate with your immediate supervisor to develop alternate work plans as appropriate.

The U.S. government announced the following protocol effective 2/2/2020:

• Any U.S. citizen returning to the U.S. who has been in Hubei Province in the previous 14 days will be subject to up to 14 days of mandatory quarantine, to ensure they're provided proper medical care and health screening. This applies only to U.S. citizens who have been in Hubei Province in the past 14 days.
• Any U.S. citizen returning to the U.S. who has been in the rest of mainland China within the previous 14 days will undergo proactive entry health screening at a select number of ports of entry and up to 14 days of monitored self-quarantine to ensure they have not contracted the virus and do not pose a public health risk.
• Foreign nationals, other than immediate family of U.S. citizens and permanent residents, who have traveled to China within the last 14 days will be denied entry into the U.S. for this time.

ODU encourages members of the University community to become familiar with the facts about COVID-19 and support one another with compassion and empathy. The University's Discrimination Policy prohibits different treatment or harassment of any students and/or employees based on their ethnicity. ODU's Office of Equity and Diversity has resources to help address any concerns both informally (through coaching and training), and formally, if the situation should arise.

Should a case be positively identified, appropriate communications as guided by the Virginia Department of Health will occur. Student Engagement and Enrollment Services has made arrangements for quarantining students if needed. Protocols are in place for cleaning on-campus residences of affected students and workspaces of affected faculty and staff. Administrators will work with faculty to make accommodations for extended student absences.

The CDC has recommended steps people can take to stay healthy and prevent the spread of this illness. The CDC is not recommending the wearing of masks for persons who do not have COVID-19 symptoms at this time.

Students who are ill should not attend class. They should contact their instructor via email or telephone to discuss appropriate adjustments. Instructors are encouraged to make appropriate adjustments based on their courses. Examples may include: allowing students to Zoom into class lectures or using lecture-capture technology to record lectures, granting some flexibility with course attendance policies, help secure a copy of course notes, and modifying deadlines for assignments or exams that normally take place during the course meeting time. Faculty members who have questions about how to do this may find assistance with the Office of Educational Accessibility by emailing oea@odu.edu.

Faculty and staff who are ill should not report to work. They should communicate with their immediate supervisor to obtain guidance on alternative work methods (e.g., telework) as appropriate.

There are cybersecurity aspects and personal cyber precautions to consider in an emergency like the novel coronavirus outbreak. Fake donation sites, phishing emails designed to take advantage of the emergency, malicious videos and attachments, and fake news all go along with an emergency like the novel coronavirus outbreak. Visit https://www.odu.edu/cybersecurity and be aware of safe computing practices.

• Students with personal health questions: call ODU Student Health Services at 757-683-3132.
• Faculty and staff
  • Contact your medical provider for personal health questions
  • General questions: Call 757-683-5421 (Office of the Provost)
• Student travel: Office of International Programs, 757-683-4419
• Non-medical support resources
  • Office of the Dean of Students, 757-683-3442
  • Office of Counseling Services - come by the Office in 1526 Webb Center. If self-quarantining, call 757-683-4401
  • Employee Assistance Program, 757-683-3042

Old Dominion University has secured December 18 for an in-person ceremony just for the Spring 2020 graduating class, their families and guests. For more information, please see the FAQ at the bottom of the odu.edu/grad2020 webpage.