June 1 - Updates on COVID-19

Freshman Nathan Church, who leads the nation in triples, helped the Anteaters make their ninth NCAA appearance. Credit: Matt Brown, UCI Athletics

TODAY’S CAMPUS UPDATES

Anteater baseball heads to NCAA regionals

UCI baseball is back in the postseason for the first time in seven years, and heads to Stanford in the NCAA Regionals. UCI finished the regular season with a record of 40-16 with a 32-8 conference record. Play begins Friday, June 4 at 6 p.m. as UC Irvine takes on Nevada to start the regional off.

New campus cases*

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

UCI COVID-19 NEWS AND EVENTS

Chao family gifts to UCI Health for cancer care top $50 million

The Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center became Orange County’s first National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in 1997. UCI Health

With its current gift, longtime UCI Health benefactor the Chao family has committed $50 million since 1995 to UCI Health toward advancing cancer care in Orange County and beyond. The family’s latest gift will name the cancer center at the new UCI Medical Center in Irvine. The Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Ambulatory Care will be one of three medical facilities at the new $1.2 billion medical center adjacent to the UCI campus.

Meeting the Future

UCI is emerging from a year defined by COVID-19, realizing a decades-long vision fueled by medical and managerial lessons learned during that time. The clear message: When a once-in-a-century pandemic throws a wrench into the world, use it to build something worthy of transforming lives for the next generation. With plans for a new medical complex and college of health sciences underway, UCI continues its evolution to help the individual and the broader community.

Upcoming events

• Multiplex Salivary Antibody Assay to measure SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Vaccination at Population-Scale, Thursday at 10 a.m. (sponsored by the School of Social Ecology)

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.

O.C.’s super point-of-dispensing (POD) sites to administer first dose of COVID-19 vaccine this week

The County of Orange anticipates an increased demand for first dose COVID-19 vaccinations after Governor Newsom’s announcement on May 27, 2021 that the State of California has launched “Vax for the Win,” a COVID-19 Vaccine Incentive Program. To meet the anticipated increase in demand for first dose COVID-19 vaccinations, the County Super PODs will also offer the first dose of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines through the Anaheim Convention Center, OC Fair & Event Center, Santa Ana College, and Soka University from Tuesday, June 1 through Saturday, June 5, 2021.

WHO announces new names for COVID-19 variants to avoid stigmatizing countries

Coronavirus variants will no longer be classified by regional origin in a continued effort to avoid stigmas, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Monday. WHO will transition to categorizing variants using labels derived from letters of the Greek alphabet. The variant first detected in Brazil, for example, was named “Gamma.”

Vietnam detects new highly transmissible coronavirus variant

Vietnam has uncovered a new COVID-19 variant combining characteristics of the two existing variants first found in India and the U.K. That the new one is an Indian variant with mutations that originally belong to the U.K. variant is “very dangerous" according to the nation’s health minister.

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.

Kenya conducting “wildlife census,” counting every animal

Kenya has experienced an elephant baby boom during Covid. Saskya Vandoorne

Kenya has embarked on its most ambitious conservation effort yet: counting every single animal and marine life in all 58 national parks across the country for the first time ever. Using GPS trackers, aircraft, camera traps and significant manpower, Kenya's Wildlife Service (KWS) will count everything from the regal giraffe to the endearing cat-sized dik-dik over three months.

#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 COVID-19 vaccination, activities, workstation, volunteering, etc., to marketing@uci.edu or post on social media with the #UCIconnected hashtag.