February 11 - Updates on COVID-19

The Year of the Ox kicks off Friday. Make it a safe one.

TODAY'S CAMPUS UPDATES

One new campus case*

One student resident and zero campus employees tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday. For more information, visit the UCI COVID-19 dashboard.

UC NEWS

How easy is it to understand speech through a mask?

Ten months into social distancing and masks, people are adapting well, a new study says.

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.

OC won’t vaccinate teachers, food workers for at least 2 weeks

With only about a quarter of Orange County residents who are 65 and older vaccinated, public health officials say it will be at least two weeks before eligibility is expanded to teachers and food service workers.

Asymptomatic patients less likely to infect others, study says

Research in the Lancet found that close contacts of COVID patients with symptoms were nearly four times more likely to become infected than close contacts of asymptomatic COVID carriers.

OC nonprofit aims to boost child mental health amid pandemic

“We are seeing a pretty significant increase in things like depression, anxiety and also aggression, impulsivity, irritability and all kinds of behavioral problems in kids,” UCI psychology professor Jessica Borelli said.

How to tell if you’re inhaling other people’s breath

In a growing pandemic trend, businesses and people are using carbon dioxide monitors to assess ventilation quality.

COVID funeral costs now eligible for reimbursement

Families that have lost a loved one to the coronavirus can now receive up to $7,000 in funeral expenses, a congresswoman said Wednesday. Some $2 billion in funding will be made available to families through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The program is modeled after funeral assistance provided after Hurricane Katrina.

Fake vaccines popping up south of the border

Baja California health officials are warning residents in such cities as Tijuana to beware of social media posts advertising COVID-19 vaccines for sale. “They are fake,” officials said.

Rhode Island kept its schools open. Here’s what happened.

Although some teachers and students got sick, and principals frequently had to improvise, the program worked — mostly.

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.

Satire: Advances in outdoor dining

The Onion describes New York’s increasingly futuristic anti-COVID dining technology: “Each morning, my server, who is a beam of light, bathes me in virus-inactivating gamma particles before I place my order.”

Travel photography of the year

Enjoy a little armchair travel scenery while waiting for your vaccine.

#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.