For students still in Blacksburg, here is an update from the town about the testing site location and procedures for getting tested for Covid-19:
ONLY those individuals with a letter of authorization from the Virginia Department of Health’s New River Health District will be allowed access to the sites, and only by appointment, to receive appropriate testing, assessment and referral services.
For more information, call the New River Health District’s COVID-19 public health call center at 540-267-8240. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. After hours, leave a message.
Not sure how many current students/families frequent this forum, but for any who do, VT has moved to essential services status - dining plans for off campus students are suspended (rolled over to Fall 2020), food service only available to on campus students who remain, there is a note re: moveout by April 5 but it’s unclear if that pertains to students who stayed home and filled out the initial housing form re: COVID but have a move out date scheduled that is different.
https://vtnews.vt.edu/notices/student-affairs-updated-depts-facilities.html
Blacksburg Transit is still operating with modified routes as of 4/2/20. Passengers will load through the rear of the bus, and depending on bus size there will be a limit to the number of passengers allowed on the bus.
https://ridebt.org/news-alerts/202-bt-to-implement-fare-free-service-effective-4-2-2020
VT will be test optional for the next round of applicants:
Since we haven’t mentioned on this thread - Summer classes and Freshman orientation have all moved to online for summer 2020
In case any of you are in the Burg… all downtown parking fees are now being waived.
Town hall meeting for prospective students: April 21…Register here
April 26 update from VT President Sands:
As a point of reference, here is an announcement from VT’s former ‘sister school’ down the road, Radford University:
Virginia Tech planning in-person fall classes ‘with caveats’
Newest communication regarding fall plans:
https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2020/05/unirel-imt-public-health.html
FYI, in the post immediately above, within the article is a link to a very detailed document illustrating how on-campus guidelines might look in the fall.
Thank you for the continued updates rbc2018 - especially being at the local level.
Sure thing. The link within the article is especially interesting. Fingers crossed the kids will get some semblance of normalcy.
Here’s an article from a few days ago about summer enrollment. The reason I find it interesting is that the pandemic is obviously a big reason why more students would be taking summer classes (summer jobs, internships, etc. falling through), but the article completely ignores that fact and instead attributes the substantial increase to course offerings, etc. Impressive spin, VT!
Don’t know if it’s already been said in an article posted above, but VT will be making an official announcement on the fall semester next Monday!
Thanks ak2018 - I remember they had said a date they would announce by but didn’t remember what date that was.
Sounds like it will be good news - but of course things can change so they have to be prepared for the worst as well.
I have seen a good bit of my son’s online stuff - and he is learning material … but college is about way more then the book stuff you learn … its about being away, learning to be responsible on your own, and socializing and learning to work with others. To me with online learning your missing out on 75% of what college is about. With online learning to me there is little difference between VT and the community college down the street (other than the price tag).
@cbl1 Agree. And some kids really struggle with online as compared to face-to-face classes.
ANNOUNCED Virginia Tech’s plan for fall 2020: