May 28 - Updates on COVID-19
Section 1
UCI UPDATES
Staff Assembly video thanks our essential workers
Staff Assembly has created a video thank you message to all our essential workers and frontline employees. They produced it themselves, and it includes a message from Chancellor Gillman and features UCI employees sharing their thanks.
#UCIGrad call out
Calling all #Classof2020 grads! Since we can’t celebrate IRL, it’s time to take the party online. Use the hashtags #UCIGrad #UCIPride to share your virtual celebrations. Also, don’t forget to tag UCI! @UCICommencement.
UCI COVID-19 NEWS AND STORIES
Life online during the pandemic
UCI anthropologist Tom Boellstorff receives an NSF grant to show how COVID-19 is shifting lives online and how the move may guide prevention strategies when offline activities resume. To better understand different forms of digital interaction and the implications of virtual worlds for new digital cultures, he’ll be casting a wide ethnographic net to capture the many ways people “live” online. Funding for this work began in May and will continue through March 2021.
A partisan divide on health behaviors
UCI political scientist Sara Wallace Goodman received a National Science Foundation grant to study the link between political beliefs and behaviors in response to COVID-19. In March and April, Goodman and her team conducted a survey that coincided with the first peak incidences and lockdown orders in the U.S. Their findings show that political differences are the single most consistent factor that differentiates behaviors such as hand washing and social distancing, as well as attitudes toward a variety of health, immigration and economic policies.
UCI COVID-19 VIRTUAL EVENTS
Claire Trevor School of the Arts offers Radio Plays Listening Party
What to do when you can no longer write and present plays in-person during a pandemic? UCI Drama’s Professor Juliette Carrillo had to answer that question for her students. The decision she made created the opportunity to learn what some consider a lost art, radio plays. Experience what the students created as works-in-progress at our “Listening Party,” presented on June 3, 2020, 3 to 4 p.m.
UC UPDATES
Fall study abroad programs cancelled
The UC Education Abroad Program has canceled all fall study abroad programs because of the coronavirus pandemic.
COMMUNITY UPDATES & NEWS
University presidents to testify before Senate on reopening
The U.S. Senate’s health and education committee will have a hearing next Thursday on “how students can safely go to their college or university this fall.” The presidents of Purdue and Brown Universities and Lane College will testify, as well as the executive director of the American Public Health Association.
California coronavirus milestone: 100,000 cases
The number of confirmed coronavirus infections in California surpassed 100,000 Wednesday, marking a milestone that comes as the state is rapidly reopening its economy. California is the fourth state to surpass 100,000 cases.
Guidelines for reopening fitness centers coming
Gov. Newsom said his administration will release guidelines “in a week or so” for allowing gyms, yoga studios and other fitness facilities to reopen, though stringent safeguards will need to be adopted to protect customers from the pandemic.
Unemployed who have exhausted benefits can reapply
The California EDD is reopening applications to unemployed workers who previously exhausted benefits.
OC Sheriff says “we are not mask police”
Orange County’s sheriff said that his department has no intention of enforcing a recent health order requiring residents and visitors to wear face coverings in public.
COVID-19 patients on the west coast stayed an average of 10 days in hospital
In a new study, patients being treated for coronavirus in California and Washington stayed an average of 10 days in the hospital. The estimated duration of stay for survivors was 9.3 days and for non-survivors was 12.7 days.
Orange County continues to see steady rise in coronavirus hospitalizations
As Orange County reopens more businesses, the number of coronavirus hospitalizations continues to steadily rise. As of this past Tuesday, 301 people were hospitalized which is up 67% from a month ago.
Second wave of coronavirus could happen, but it is not inevitable
According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. can prevent the second wave of COVID-19 by putting into place clear and effective testing, tracing, and isolation measures.
An additional 2.1 million Americans filed for unemployment
Roughly 2.1 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week bringing the total to 41 million people.
UCI IN THE NEWS - COVID-19 Article List
Orange County Register, May 27, 2020 (Opinion)
Opinion: Masks and testing are key to public health in OC: Steve Goldstein and Clayton Chau
The New York Times, May 28, 2020
The world is still far from herd immunity for coronavirus
The Washington Post, May 27, 2020
Coronavirus may never go away, even with a vaccine
TPM, May 28, 2020
Texas Supreme Court: COVID-19 can’t be used as an excuse to vote absentee
BuzzFeed News, May 27, 2020
The CDC released new death rate estimates for the coronavirus. Many scientists say they’re too low.
Business Insider, May 27, 2020
CDC: Antibody test results are often wrong and should not be relied on
Slate, May 27, 2020
Texas voters face malicious prosecutions after COVID-19 absentee ballot ruling
The Fulcrum, May 27, 2020
Changing election rules is none of a federal judge’s business, one says
KFI AM 640 (CNS), May 27, 2020
Study: Domestic violence reports increased in L.A. during coronavirus crisis
Healthcare Facilities Today, May 27, 2020 (Blog)
What labs can teach us about safely returning to offices
MORE INFORMATION
OC-COVID19.org - powered by UCI and UCI Health, a website devoted to providing timely, useful, evidence-based information about the novel coronavirus pandemic to our friends and neighbors across Orange County
UCI Coronavirus Information Hub - more information on campus status and operational updates
UCI Health COVID-19 Updates - important information related to UCI Health