Friday, January 31, 2020
  Community, Announcements

By News and Internal Communications

UTRGV sign

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – Editor’s Note: The following message was sent via email from Doug Arney, vice president for Administrative Support Services, on January 31, 2020.

Dear UTRGV Community:

As part of our ongoing commitment to our UTRGV community’s Health and Safety, the Office of Emergency Preparedness, along with our Infectious Disease Outbreak Committee, continues to monitor the current novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak in China through situation reports and guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Department of State (DOS) and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Given the WHO’s current declaration of Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), the DOS Level 4 Do Not Travel advisory and the CDC’s Level 3 Avoid Nonessential Travel, UTRGV has decided to suspend all UTRGV Faculty/Staff/Student related travel to China effective immediately and until further notice.

Questions should be forwarded to Pablo Mendez, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, at EmergencyPreparedness@utrgv.edu or (956) 665-2658.

Our main concern is the health, safety, and security of our UTRGV community.  We will continue to monitor the situation and are hopeful conditions will improve so we can resume travel to China.



ABOUT UTRGV

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.

UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.