November 23 - Updates on COVID-19
Section 1
ANTEATER CHRONICLES
TODAY’S CAMPUS UPDATES
New cases
Six more cases of COVID-19 on campus (four students, two employees) were reported late Friday. Weekend cases will be reported this evening and appear in tomorrow’s newsletter. Visit the UCI dashboard for more information.
UCI COVID-19 NEWS AND EVENTS
Peter the Anteater turns 55 next week
UCI’s quirky mascot celebrates his 55th birthday on Nov 30. Feel free to post birthday wishes and photos on social media. #UCIPride
UC NEWS
Jobs Protection Plan
UC President Michael Drake announced a job protection program in which each campus is assigned a cost-savings target to address the financial impact of the pandemic. In a campuswide letter sent today, Chancellor Howard Gillman said, “Due to proactive financial programs already in place, UCI is on track to achieve the targeted $12 million without any furloughs or layoffs, beyond the seasonal employment fluctuations that normally occur.”
GENERAL COVID-19 NEWS
This section curates noteworthy coronavirus news, trends and opinions. No endorsement by UCI is implied. Note: Some news sites require subscriptions to read articles. The UCI Libraries offer free subscriptions to The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and OC Register for students, faculty and staff.
Evidence doesn’t support closing schools to stop virus
A national database shows infection rates are extremely low among students and teachers in both public and private schools. And Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN, “My feeling is the default condition is to keep the schools open if you possibly can.”
U.S. air travel rises ahead of Thanksgiving
On Sunday, 1,047,934 people passed through security at America’s airports, the second time since Friday that more than a million people flew. This broke the previous pandemic air travel record set Oct. 18.
Daily California coronavirus cases triple
California’s average daily number of new coronavirus cases has tripled in the last month, now infecting more residents daily than at any previous time.
COVID patients more likely to survive, but surge could shrink gains
In one analysis, the mortality rate for hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the U.S. dropped from 11.4% in March to 3.7% in September. And the length of hospital stays was halved.
AstraZeneca’s vaccine is 70% effective
Although less effective compared with Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s preliminary results, this COVID-19 vaccine appears to have an advantage when it comes to storage, affordability and distribution.
Kansas mask mandate slowed virus spread, CDC study says
Counties that complied with the governor’s July 2 mask order had a net 6% decrease in the weekly average of daily reported infections by Aug. 23, while the 81 counties that opted out of the mandate experienced a net 100% increase in the weekly average of cases, the CDC found.
HOPE, INSPIRATION, LAUGHTER
Amid the heartbreaking loss of life and economic hardship wrought by the coronavirus, we recognize the need for stories of kindness, hope, courage and humor.
Japanese theme park lets guests zipline into Godzilla’s mouth
Who needs Disneyland when you can fly into the jaws of a “life-size” Godzilla? CNN calls it “a fitting metaphor for 2020.”
Community saves restaurant known for serving the less-fortunate
A fundraiser to help the virus-decimated grill pulled in nearly $250,000.
#UCIconnected
What have you been up to during the pandemic? Send photos and/or words about your activities, workstation, volunteering or academic adventures to marketing@uci.edu or post on social media with the #UCIconnected hashtag.