Aug. 9 - Town Hall on COVID and delta variant, UCI Olympic recap
Section 1
To date, the vaccination compliance rate is 57% for students and 72% for employees. There are 28 days until the policy deadline to get vaccinated for campus employees and students (except Schools of Law and Medicine who have earlier deadlines.) Upload your COVID-19 vaccine today.
Each day, a UCI expert will answer one of your questions about COVID-19, vaccinations, variants or the future of work. Submit questions via email.
Today’s question is fielded by Andrew Noymer, epidemiologist and associate professor of population health and disease prevention:
When do you think the current COVID-19 surge will end?
Nobody knows for sure. We have seen lots of curveballs in this pandemic, and with so many variants now and different U.S. states and counties all showing different patterns from each other, it's harder than ever to predict. I do see that there is (at least) one large wave left in the emergent phase of the pandemic in the United States. What I mean by that is the current summer surge of COVID in Orange County (454 hospitalizations as of Aug. 6) will either continue to build, surpassing the summer wave of 2020 (722 hospitalizations, 7/14/2020) and look more like the wave that crested in January (although less severe) — or it will die down by, say, Labor Day. The latter would be consistent with evidence from Europe, which shows that summer surges of the delta variant are among the most evanescent of waves. There is good news and bad news here. The bad news is that if the summer wave fizzles, I expect it to be followed by a fall or fall/winter wave, much like last year. The good news is that all these waves and would-be waves will be associated with less mortality than before. The principal reason for the decrease in the death rate is vaccination, which works directly and indirectly. Directly, because vaccinated people either don't get COVID or they get mild(er) cases. Indirectly, because vaccination skews older; therefore, cases skew younger, and cases in younger people are less severe. But, in short, the COVID crisis is far from over.
UCI ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEWS
UCI Health Affairs Town Hall on COVID-19 Updates
Faculty and staff are invited to join an all-UCI town hall on COVID-19 updates, including the latest on the delta variant, featuring Dr. Susan Huang, Director of Epidemiology and Infection Prevention, UCI Health, and Ramona Agrela, Associate Chancellor and Chief Human Resources Executive, moderated by David Souleles, Director, COVID-19 Response Team. The Q & A style town hall is this Friday at noon. Send your questions in advance to healthaffairs@hs.uci.edu.
Anteaters are golden in Tokyo
UC Irvine affiliates had a very successful Olympic Games, bringing home three gold medals on the final weekend of competition. Overall, UCI affiliates (student-athletes, students, graduate students, coaches) have accumulated 21 Gold, 23 Silver and five Bronze over 11 Olympiads. Here is a complete recap of all the action in Tokyo 2020.
How does UCI decide class prerequisites?
In the latest installment of #Dennininsights, Vice Provost Michael Dennin asks the question of why we require prerequisites and focuses on this topic from the university perspective.
New business dean brings global perspective
The Paul Merage School of Business has a new dean, Ian Williamson. Although he began his role Jan. 1, Williamson only arrived on campus June 24. Before coming to UCI, he was pro-vice-chancellor and dean of the Wellington School of Business and Government at New Zealand’s Victoria University of Wellington. Williamson’s academic career has taken him across the U.S. and all over the world, from Australia to Switzerland to Indonesia and now to Irvine.
School of Medicine starts today
Today marks the first day of instruction for students in the School of Medicine. Ranked as one of the top 50 U.S. medical schools for research by U.S. News & World Report, the school educates more than 400 medical students each year and trains more than 700 residents and fellows at UCI Medical Center and affiliated institutions.
COVID-19 Vaccinations | Get the Facts: Why Young, Healthy People Need to Be Vaccinated (Spanish language video)
Muchas personas piensan que debido a que son saludables, no necesitan vacunarse contra COVID-19. El médico de urgencias de UCI Health, el Dr. Bharath Chakravarthy, explica por qué ese no es el caso.
COVID-19 | Get the Facts: Dr. Carol Major debunks vaccination myths (video)
In this one-minute video, UCI Health maternal-fetal medicine expert Dr. Carol Major urges members of the Black community to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Dr. Major dispels myths about the vaccines and explains what side effects people can expect and what to do about them.
Bullied youths’ coping strategies can affect their long-term health
In a UCI-led study, more than 800 college students responded to a questionnaire asking them to recall high school incidents of bullying and their reactions. Results showed how individuals cope with experiences of peer victimization can mitigate the associated negative short- and long-term physical and mental health effects.
UC NEWS AND GENERAL NEWS
Canada reopens its border for vaccinated US visitors
Canada lifted its prohibition on Americans crossing the border to shop, vacation or visit on Monday. U.S. citizens and legal residents must be both fully vaccinated and test negative for COVID-19 within three days to get across.
O.C. health agency issues delta advice
The OC Health Care Agency continues to advise all residents to refer to the CDPH’s recent Guidance for the Use of Face Coverings and State Public Health Officer Order regarding requirements for high-risk healthcare facilities. Read the full notice in English, Spanish or Vietnamese.
EVENTS
Genetics and Cancer
Wednesday, 1 p.m. (sponsored by UCI Anti-Cancer Challenge)
Visit today.uci.edu to see and submit event listings. Events of general interest will be shared in UCI Digest two days before they occur.
UCI IN THE NEWS
UCI Makes Strides with New Developments
Orange County Business Journal, Aug. 9
Story on the topping-off ceremony for the Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences.
Orange County’s COVID-19 Hospitalizations Keep Climbing
KCBS-2, Aug. 7
Cited: Andrew Noymer, epidemiologist and associate professor of population health and disease prevention
Voice of OC Public Town Hall: Get Your COVID-19 Questions Answered by Public Health Experts
Voice of OC, Aug. 3
Town hall tonight at 6 p.m. featuring UCI experts Sanghyuk Shin, assistant nursing professor and epidemiologist; Vladimir Minin, statistics professor and biostatistician; and Melissa Dawn Pinto, associate nursing professor.
#UCICONNECTED
“I would like to give a great big shout-out to the maintenance department at the Student Center & Event Services. In the picture: Randall Aceves, Tony Gonzalez, John Ma, Greg Ryan. Also part of their team are Alex Nava and Sal Aduna. Daily, they are hard at work getting everything set up for when our students return in September.” Submitted by Donna Marie, night custodial supervisor at UCI Student Center & Event Services.
#UCIconnected spotlights student, alumni, faculty and staff photos, essays, shoutouts, hobbies, artwork, unusual office decorations, activities and more. Send submissions via email or post on social media with the #UCIconnected hashtag.
COVID-19 NOTIFICATION AND RESOURCES
New campus cases
Four on-campus employees tested positive for COVID-19 from Friday through Sunday. For more information, visit the UCI COVID-19 dashboard.
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.
UCI Forward - information on campus status and operational updates
UCI Health COVID-19 Updates - important information related to UCI Health