BLUEFIELD, VA (WOAY) – Nineteen students at Bluefield College tested positive for COVID-19. Earlier today a member of the Bluefield College football team tested positive after requesting a test.
Following contact tracing protocols additional members of the football team were tested. The decision was made to test the entire team once additional students were identified. This effort produced an additional 18 students with positive cases. The football program has suspended all activities for the next seven days.
Through contact tracing by College staff members it appears the source of community spread was from a social gathering in the Radford, Virginia community over the weekend. Affected students are in the care of the College’s student development team. They have been placed in pre-identified quarantine rooms until they test negative for the virus.
Bluefield College leadership made the decision to move all classes to remote instruction on Thursday and Friday with a plan to return to in-person instruction on Monday morning. Bluefield College has planned to offer courses in-person and online this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students are able to attend classes either way, and are able to quickly pivot solely to remote instruction. This remote instruction period will also allow for campus staff to deep clean facilities around campus.
“Bluefield College leadership continues to monitor the situation on a day-to-day basis,” said President David Olive. “We will provide updates to our campus community to be transparent and responsible in communicating how we move forward as a campus.”
