COVID-19

Fairmont State University distributed its first round of COVID-19 vaccines to members of the campus community Wednesday as part of a statewide effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus and fight the ongoing pandemic. 

In response to a mandate by West Virginia Governor Jim Justice, Fairmont State University is in the final planning stages of a campus wide COVID-19 surveillance testing initiative. Each week saliva-based testing will be self-administered by a sampling of students, faculty and staff equal to 10% of the on-campus population. 

Fairmont State University has completed all phases of its free on-campus testing for COVID-19. In total, 3,704 tests were administered to faculty, staff and students. As of Friday morning, there are two active cases of COVID-19 related to the campus population and six total recovered cases.     

Fairmont State University has received the majority of test results from the first phase of free on-campus testing for COVID-19. In total, 3,614 tests were administered to faculty, staff and students. Of those, 3,612 results have been returned with a total of five positive cases identified. Four of the individuals have recovered and one remains active.   

Marion County Health Department and Fairmont State University have concluded their first phase on free on-campus testing for COVID-19. In total, 3,399 tests were administered to faculty, staff and students. Of those 1,798 results have been returned with three positive cases identified. 

Fairmont State University is modifying the academic calendar for the 2020-2021 Academic Year to help us anticipate possible complications (or resurgence of) with COVID-19.  The University is trying to anticipate the possible spikes in cases in the fall as the CDC has projected.  To help the campus stay safe and healthy we have modified our traditional calendar so that we can come back face-to-face for our Fall and Spring semesters.

As Fairmont State University continues to put protocols into place to welcome students back to campus in the fall, the University is saddened to announce the August Commencement Ceremony will be postponed. 

The decision to cancel the tentativly scheduled August ceremony is due to the current COVID-19 restrictions as well as part of the mandate from the state that no more than 100 people can gather in a place.

As the impacts of COVID-19 continue to be felt, Fairmont State University has seen an influx of students rethinking their college plans and choosing to attend a regional institution like Fairmont State that is smaller or closer to home.

As West Virginia continues its phased reopening and the COVID-19 new positive test numbers for Marion County continues to be zero, Fairmont State University has re-envisioned their academic calendar to keep students safe while still attending face-to-face classes on the campus that they love.

Fairmont State University has announced it will hold a virtual commencement on Saturday, May 9 to celebrate graduating students. In-person ceremonies have tentatively been rescheduled for August 8.