������

The Kent State Columbiana County campuses wasted no time reaching out to the Salem and East Liverpool communities to share resources during this COVID-19 crisis.

������ announced the creation of the Kent State Emergency Grant Fund that will help students who are unexpectedly finding themselves in financial need as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

������’s administration, faculty and staff have stepped up to collect the university’s personal protective equipment (PPE) to donate to local entities in dire need of medical supplies.
 

Tara C. Smith, Ph.D., epidemiology professor in the College of Public Health, shares her perspective on the current coronavirus pandemic: "It seems like years have passed since the world first heard of an 'atypical pneumonia' circulating in the Hubei province of China in December 2019. When we’ve seen similar reports in the past, the illnesses have had a variety of causes, but all were eventually containable..."

As the country adjusts to the new normal of working from home, schooling from home and living lives of social isolation, ������ professor Tara Smith, Ph.D., said people need to realize this new normal may need to continue for a long time.

“It really would not surprise me if this lasted for at least eight weeks or longer,” Smith said.