U.Va. orders 25K ‘welcome back kits’ ahead of fall reopening

By The Associated Press
June 8, 2020 | 1:44 PM

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The University of Virginia says it will spend nearly $400,000 on protective equipment in hopes of safely reopening this coming fall.

The Daily Progress reported Friday that the school in Charlottesville has ordered 25,000 “welcome-back kits” from a business called Bright Ideas LLC. The kits will include two cloth face masks, two containers of hand sanitizer and a tool that can pull on door handles.

UVA has also updated its policy book to require faculty and students to wear masks inside campus buildings and on buses. The school also plans to keep large classes online.

UVA plans to start the fall semester on Aug. 25.

Va. health dept. improves nursing home inspection backlog, reforms sanction criteria for facilities

By Virginia Mercury
August 22, 2026 | 8:37 PM

Stories of neglect in care or unsanitary living situations have plagued several of Virginia’s nursing home facilities in recent years and data backs up a lapse in oversight by state agencies. With reform efforts underway, the Virginia Department of Health officials said they aim to adopt sanction criteria by the end of the year to rein in bad actors and get troubled facilities back on track. As of July, 58% of Virginia’s nursing homes were overdue for inspections and 68 of Virginia’s 289 nursing homes were found to have serious deficiencies, according to ProPublica. Several of the state’s flagged facilities with numerous deficiencies also had high staffing turnover rates. The issue has been salient among various healthcare spaces, including VDH.

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