UCI Forward

UCI Forward is our commitment to the well-being of our community as we ramp up campus operations. Working together, each of us doing our part, we can move UCI Forward.

January 25 - Updates on COVID-19

Section 1

Still from video of former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger getting COVID-19 vaccine

The Terminator, aka former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, quotes his movie character (“Come with me if you want to live”) after getting the vaccine last week. He forgot to add “I’ll be back” in three weeks for a second dose.

TODAY'S CAMPUS UPDATES

10 new campus cases*

From Friday to Sunday, seven student residents and three campus employees tested positive for COVID-19. The number of active cases fell from 101 on Thursday to 89 on Sunday. For more information, visit the UCI COVID-19 dashboard.

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.

California ends stay-at-home orders

The change will allow businesses such as restaurants to resume outdoor dining in many areas, although local officials could choose to continue stricter rules. The move follows criticism that Gov. Newsom wouldn’t disclose the data being used to project ICU capacity.

Moderna working on vaccine booster for new variant

The current vaccine is less protective against the mutation discovered in South Africa, so the company is developing a new form of its vaccine that could be used as a booster shot.

California ranks dead last in administering vaccine

On the plus side, California has gotten better at administering its available COVID-19 vaccines, going from a 27.5% usage rate two weeks ago to a 37.3% usage rate last week. But other states also picked up the pace, leaving California 50th out of 50 states in percentage of shots used.

Major drop in California cases and hospitalizations

This past weekend, there were fewer COVID patients being treated in hospitals around the state than at any point since the week before Christmas. But deaths remain high.

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.

Ex-KROQ deejay launches good news show

Kevin Ryder (of Kevin & Bean fame) and Mike Catherwood (another KROQ alum) have teamed up to showcase uplifting stories on YouTube, Spotify and Apple. Interesting side note: Ryder says he has had COVID-19 twice.

A virtual tour of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art

See paintings, sculpture, designer dresses, ink drawings and much more.

#UCIconnected

If you have a shoutout, or if you’d like to share what you’ve been up to during the pandemic, send photos and/or words about your activities, workstation, volunteering, etc., to marketing@uci.edu or post on social media with the #UCIconnected hashtag.

EXPOSURE NOTIFICATION

* Potential workplace exposure: UCI provides this notification of a potential workplace COVID-19 exposure. Employees and subcontractors who were in these locations on the dates listed may have been exposed to the coronavirus. You may be entitled to various benefits under applicable federal and state laws and University-specific policies and agreements. The full notification is available on the UCI Forward site. If you have been identified as a close contact to a COVID-19 case, the UCI Contact Tracing Program will contact you and provide additional direction.