KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Medical students at the University of Kansas will graduate early to join the fight against COVID-19, officials announced Friday.
University of Kansas Health System officials made the announcement during a morning press conference.
They are calling the group the Kansas Pandemic Volunteer Healthcare Workforce and 52 senior medical students who have already met graduation requirements are signed up.
The students can receive special permits to work alongside practicing physicians and lend a hand to the fight against the virus.
The program will hopefully run from mid-April through early May, so that the students can still make it to their residencies on time.
The number of cases of the virus is rising rapidly in the Midwest, so the school is taking the lead from other universities.
New York University announced last week that students would graduate three months early to jump into the fight.
As of Friday morning, Missouri had nearly 2,000 cases of COVID-19 and Kansas had almost 600.
