May 25 - Updates on COVID-19

A lazy day in Aldrich Park. Steve Zylius/UCI

TODAY’S CAMPUS UPDATES

New campus cases*

No student residents and no on-campus employees have tested positive for COVID-19 since May 11. For more information, visit the UCI COVID-19 dashboard.

UCI COVID-19 NEWS AND EVENTS

‘Building Community to Confront Extremism’ proposal deadline extended

The Office of Inclusive Excellence invites proposals on "Building Community to Confront Extremism" as part of the Confronting Extremism Program. This funding opportunity is open to Senate faculty and to directors of student resource centers at UCI. The deadline has been extended to June 4.

Need a little motivation? Check out this student video

Students from Professor Sarah Pressman’s Positive Psychology class created this brief motivational video as a school project featuring the contributions of students Susana Rodriguez Guerra, Jocelle Valera, Alice Silva, Jasmine Mijares and Natalie Dinh.

Upcoming events

• Teaching Fall Quarter Discussion, Wednesday, noon to 1 p.m. (sponsored by the Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation)

• Toward a Holistic Understanding of the Pandemic: Advances in COVID-19 Research, Thursday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. (sponsored by the Sue & Bill Gross School of Nursing)

UCI NEWS

Message from President Drake on the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder

This past year in particular — with international public reckoning over racial injustice, and the disproportionate public health and economic impacts of the pandemic on people of color— leaves us keenly aware of the challenges we face in returning to a forever altered world. It also reminds us of the requirement that we engage our best selves in the work necessary to create a better, more respectful, more inclusive tomorrow. Read the full message.

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.

56% of O.C. residents have had at least one shot

Pockets of Orange County remain under-vaccinated against the coronavirus as county and state officials increasingly move from vaccine super sites to neighborhood shot clinics before an expected statewide reopening June 15.

Half of L.A. County residents 16 and older now fully vaccinated

Half of Los Angeles County residents 16 and older are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19, an encouraging milestone as the region — along with the rest of California — prepares to fully reopen in a few weeks.

LAUSD to fully reopen for in-person learning in the fall

The Los Angeles Unified School District plans to fully reopen classrooms for in-person learning in the fall. Students who are unable to or choose not to attend in-person instruction will be offered an online option.

White House expects US to reach 50% adults fully vaccinated today

The White House expects the U.S. will reach a new milestone when it comes to vaccinations today with 50% of adults now fully vaccinated.

Moderna seeks FDA approval for teenagers

Moderna announced Tuesday that its two-shot coronavirus vaccine produced the same immune response in teenagers as adults, and it plans to submit the data to U.S. regulators in early June.

US citizens warned not to travel to Japan as Tokyo Olympics near

The Tokyo Olympics, postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic, are facing increasing hurdles for the 2021 games as the U.S. State Department advised US citizens against traveling to Japan because of a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases. The Games are still scheduled to run from July 23 to August 8.

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.

The making of sleep stories that help us nod off

CNN

"Sleep stories” have become a popular way for people to calm down as they drift into dreamland. If a story is too boring, people won’t get lost in it. If it’s too interesting, they won’t fall asleep. Writers avoid any words that could alarm people. Even a word like “airplane” could jolt people out of their reverie. Instead of sharp consonants, writers fill their wordscapes with soft, lyrical words like “hush” and “snug.”

#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.

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.