In The News

The 33rd annual Virginia Film Festival will offer a virtual lineup of more than 50 feature films, documentaries, shorts and discussions, as well as an in-person schedule of socially distanced drive-in movies at Dairy Market and Morven Farm.

Businesses on the UVA Corner say sales are still down due to to the coronavirus pandemic. It’s especially tough for newer businesses who don’t have a built up customer base to rely on.

UVA is using a team of approximately 20 auto-sampling robots, about the size of a small trashcan, to search the sewers of residence halls on Grounds for the SARS-COV-2 virus, or coronavirus.

UVA has extended student and faculty restrictions, including that gatherings must be five people or fewer, a mask requirement except when at home, exercising outside, or eating and drinking, and a ban on traveling outside the area or bringing in visitors.

(Press release) We are proud to announce that 46 institutions of higher education – including the UVA School of Medicine – received the 2020 Health Professions Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. The Health Professions HEED Award is the only national honor recognizing U.S. medical, dental, pharmacy, osteopathic, nursing, veterinary, allied health, and other health schools and centers that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion across their campuses.

(By Dr. William Petri and Dr. Jeffrey M. Sturek, School of Medicine faculty) With 74-year-old President Trump and 50-year-old first lady Melania Trump testing positive for the coronavirus, what are the best proven treatments for them and other patients? 

UVA alumna and two-time NCAA singles champion Danielle Collins will face Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the quarterfinals at the French Open after a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 win over Tunisian 30th seed Ons Jabeur on Tuesday. World No. 57 Collins, a semifinalist in Melbourne last year, is through to the last eight at a major for the second time. 

According to UVA Dr. Patrick Jackson, a timeline for someone infected with coronavirus can change from person to person. “It’s widely variable,” he said, but officials at the Centers for Disease Control report you’re likely not contagious after it’s been at least 10 days since the onset of symptoms.

With 200 active cases of the coronavirus among UVA students, one big question looms: will the virus spread outside the University? While it’s tough to tell definitively, there are indications that the virus is mostly staying in the UVA community.

“If the president is more ill than the press conferences are letting on, then his treatment may well be reasonable,” Dr. Patrick Jackson, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Virginia, said. The experts acknowledged that it’s difficult to offer opinions about the president’s care, since they’re not directly involved in the treatment decisions. “Right now, it’s kind of like we’re driving in the dark,” Dr. Taison Bell, an infectious disease physician at the University of Virginia’s medical center, said Saturday.

A University of Virginia epidemiologist has been in the start-up of the Phase 3 clinical trial of the antibody treatment President Trump received at Walter Reed hospital that is not yet available for the general public.

Dr. William Petri, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Virginia, says men are 50% more likely to face serious outcomes, like death, from the virus than women.

During her opening statement in the first televised congressional debate last month, Mace said her opponent’s Democratic Party “aids and abets a violent and out-of-control mob.” Kyle Kondik, of the UVA Center for Politics, said this message is being used widely among Republicans. He said GOP candidates are taking their cues from Trump and parroting the president’s law-and-order rhetoric.

During her opening statement in the first televised congressional debate last month, Mace said her opponent’s Democratic Party “aids and abets a violent and out-of-control mob.” Kyle Kondik, of the UVA Center for Politics, said this message is being used widely among Republicans. He said GOP candidates are taking their cues from Trump and parroting the president’s law-and-order rhetoric.

(Commentary by Jalane Schmidt, religious studies professor) Charlottesville is rejoicing at the recent removal of “Johnny Reb,” a mass-produced cast bronze life-size Confederate soldier statue that guarded Virginia’s Albemarle County courthouse for 111 years. A gleeful crowd of more than 100 COVID-masked townspeople, some wearing Union soldier kepi hats for the occasion, cheered from the sidewalk.

While President Donald Trump was at Walter Reed Medical Center getting treatment for COVID-19, his physician said he was prescribed remdesivir, an experimental drug cocktail, and dexamethasone. Dr. Jeffrey Sturek, an assistant professor and doctor from the division of pulmonary and critical care at UVA Health, said dexamethasone has been used to help patients with severe cases of COVID-19.

All the cases of coronavirus among University of Virginia students who are living in Charlottesville or Albemarle County are being counted in the local Thomas Jefferson Health District numbers. That includes students who use a permanent address from out of the area, according to TJHD.

For what appears to be the first time since Aug. 17, UVA is reporting no new cases of COVID-19 on Grounds. There were 10 new cases on Saturday, but none were reported on Sunday.

The dean of the University of Virginia School of Engineering is stepping down. According to a release, Craig H. Benson says he will step down on June 30.

Few occasions of historical importance have been so shrouded in secrecy – and even outright deception – as the health emergencies of world leaders. The U.S. may have been more transparent about these events than most countries, but even here, the truth has only come to light over time. “This is one precedent this president is following,” says Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at UVA’s Miller Center.