LU Student Health Center taking all necessary measures to prevent COVID-19; no known cases reported on campus

Liberty University confirmed on Tuesday that there are no known cases of on-campus students with COVID-19.

Monday, the university reported that a recent graduate and former student-athlete residing locally with family off campus and enrolled in online classes tested positive for the virus.

On Tuesday, the university reported that the former student-athlete phoned the LU Athletics Training Center on Tuesday, March 24, detailed the symptoms, and was directed to Centra for testing. (The graduate did not come to the campus health center as was previously reported). The test was taken the same day and the positive result was reported late Sunday, March 29. While the graduate lives in Lynchburg with family, the location of infection cannot be pinpointed, in part, because the former athlete traveled to Florida on business in the two-week period before the test.

“As it relates to the university campus, there is no threat of exposure that we are aware of, but are working with the individual to determine and confirm if there was any other contact and will follow up with proper public health protocols,” said Keith Anderson, Liberty’s executive director of health and wellness.

Anderson said Liberty also connected with Athletics Training Center staff to confirm the former athlete’s statements about not having been on campus since two weeks before the test and since then.

Anderson said the case demonstrates the measures and coordinated efforts that Liberty, the Student Health Center, and other personnel such as sports trainers and sports medicine professionals are taking to direct students to the proper care they may require at this time.

Students can call the Student Health Center or make an appointment for a virtual health visit, which can be done from a student’s dorm or off-campus residence. (Call 434-338-7774). The new virtual visit option is covered under the students’ health fee and requires no copay or out-of-pocket expense.

A triage tent has also been set up in front of the center for the center’s physician and nursing staff to do pre-screenings in order to provide extra layers of safety for students arriving with multiple health concerns that may be unrelated to COVID-19. They are trained to determine if students are also presenting symptoms of COVID-19 and are prepared to follow normal protocol to direct them to testing. The tent is available during normal business hours.

“We have been following CDC guidance for medical facilities, using the same protocols as a hospital facility would, while remaining open for students, faculty, and staff,” Anderson said.

Liberty’s Student Health & Wellness office is also following up with a small number of students who have been directed to self-quarantine at an off-campus facility.

The university continues to keep the Liberty community informed through its COVID-19 Advisory website. An updated FAQ also lists important information surrounding Liberty’s response to the crisis.

From the beginning of the crisis, as it pertains to Virginia colleges, Liberty’s administration has made tireless efforts to adhere — and in some cases go well beyond — the executive orders from Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. Liberty moved its courses online the first day students would have returned from Spring Break and has provided necessary housing for students who do not have a safe place to go, who did not otherwise have the high-speed internet to continue their education, and to international students who cannot travel to their home countries. Other adjustments were made to campus life to enforce social distancing, prohibit gatherings of 10 or more, convert meals to takeout only, close indoor recreation and fitness centers, hold Convocations and  Campus Church online, end student organization activities, suspend team sports competitions, provide enhanced sanitation of touch points throughout the day, work from home where possible, close campus to visitors, and postpone Commencement.

For the students who desired to continue with their education, the university chose to honor its contracts for food, housing, and education as much as the law allowed rather than unilaterally cancel them, push their students out, cancel all classes, and make some students homeless, without food sources and less safe, as other colleges across the country have. Those who chose to move from the dorms are eligible for $1,000 credits on their student accounts.

The Virginia Department of Health, in a surprise inspection on campus the morning after Northam published the order establishing a 10-patron limit in restaurants, found the university to be in compliance of all state restrictions related to COVID-19 and similarly found full compliance in a second surprise inspection six days later.