May 7 - Updates on COVID-19

TODAY’S CAMPUS UPDATES

COVID Response Center schedule changes

UCI’s COVID Response Center’s hours are being reduced to Mon. – Fri., 7:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. and the center will no longer be open on Saturdays. These schedule changes take effect May 17.

No new campus cases*

No student residents or on-campus employees tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. For more information, visit the UCI COVID-19 dashboard.

UCI COVID-19 NEWS AND EVENTS

Upcoming events

• Blood drive – Irvine Campus, May 11, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the ACRC in Lot 5

UC NEWS

Friday fun fact

Controlling costs: Regardless of income, the net cost of attendance after financial aid for California resident students has remained stable or declined since 2010–11.

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, OC Register and Washington Post for students, faculty and staff.

Orange County to close vaccine super sites

Orange County officials will close all four vaccination supersites spread throughout the county after what they say is a huge drop in people getting their shots at the sites. OC health officials plan on hosting more neighborhood vaccination clinics in the coming weeks and the last day for the super sites is June 5.

OC School Board adopts statement against mandatory COVID vaccinations for children

Parents concerned that their children would be vaccinated against COVID-19 without parental consent, something the Orange County Health Care Agency has repeatedly assured residents would not happen, took their concerns to the Orange County Board of Education.

Pfizer/BioNTech applies for full FDA approval for vaccine

Pfizer/BioNTech has initiated its application to the US Food and Drug Administration for full FDA approval of its COVID-19 vaccine for people ages 16 and older. This is the first COVID-19 vaccine in the United States to be assessed for full approval from the FDA.

More data shows vaccine effectiveness in teens

Moderna reported Thursday that its vaccine is showing a 96% effectiveness rate in Phase 2/3 testing of adolescents ages 12 to 17. Pfizer has reported its COVID-19 vaccine was 100% effective in a study of adolescents ages 12 to 15. Emergency use authorization for its vaccine is expected soon.

US employers struggle to find workers

America’s employers added just 266,000 jobs last month, sharply lower than in March and a sign that some businesses are struggling to find enough workers as the economic recovery rapidly strengthens.

New pandemic US air travel record suggests summer travel boom

The number of people traveling by air just hit a new peak of the pandemic, suggesting an early start to a summer travel rebound.

WHO chief authorizes emergency use of Chinese COVID-19 vaccine

The World Health Organization gave its authorization for emergency use of a COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by China’s Sinopharm, potentially paving the way for millions of the doses to reach needy countries through a U.N.-backed program rolling out coronavirus vaccines.

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.

79-year-old diver and this fish are BFFS

Yoriko, an Asian sheepshead wrasse (kobudai in Japanese), first met scuba diver Hiroyuki Arakawa nearly 30 years ago. Great Big Story/YouTube

In a plotline straight out of Disney, an adorable aquatic denizen of Japan’s Tateyama Bay has captured one man’s heart in a friendship that’s lasted close to three decades. The fish with an almost human-looking face and her human companion became UWBFFs (underwater best friends forever).

#UCIconnected

Nikki Sepasyar

As a public health major, I felt super proud to get vaccinated. Being a food service worker and having parents who are at high risk, I feel more peace of mind being fully vaccinated. My name is Nikki Sepasyar and I’m a third year Public Health Sciences major.

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 COVID-19 vaccination, 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.