Jan. 13 - Revised campus mask rules, MLK Day reflections
Section 1
Anteater Time Machine: A student in his dorm room, 1970. Aside from the decor, one sign of the times is the wooden tennis racket on the right, clamped inside a wood frame to prevent warping.
UCI ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEWS
Revised mask rules for campus
Effective Friday, Jan. 14, UCI has revised its face covering policy to align with Cal/OSHA’s latest standards. The updated rules require anyone who is indoors in a public space on university-controlled property to wear a higher-quality face covering that doesn’t let light pass through when held up to a light source. (An exception is made for instructors wearing masks with clear plastic panels to communicate with the hearing-impaired.) The campus Executive Directive on Face Coverings has been revised to reflect the changes. UCI Environmental Health & Safety has updated its Face Coverings guidance and created an FAQ. For more information, contact EHS at safety@uci.edu.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day reflections
Three UCI social scientists offer their take on how far we've come and how far we have yet to go to realize the world envisioned by Martin Luther King Jr.
New grant boosts UCI outreach to Compton schools
A $5.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education will enable UCI’s Center for Educational Partnerships to expand a program that strives to prepare K-8 students in Compton for college and success.
UC NEWS AND GENERAL NEWS
Who are America’s vaccine holdouts? You may be surprised
The strongest predictor of whether someone is unvaccinated isn’t their political party, religious affiliation, favorite news source, education level, geographical location or race. It’s whether they’re younger than age 60, according to an analysis of polling data. “It may be comforting or politically convenient to blame the failure to achieve mass vaccination on ideological factors,” writes political scientist and progressive author Anthony DiMaggio. “But none of those factors, it turns out, is the primary reason for vaccine opposition.”
What percentage of omicron cases are asymptomatic?
One of the likely reasons for omicron’s high transmission rate is the frequent lack of symptoms among infected people. How often are coronavirus carriers asymptomatic? Pre-omicron studies found that 40% of confirmed infections were asymptomatic. With omicron, the percentage of people experiencing no symptoms might top 90%, according to projections from the University of Washington’s School of Medicine. Meanwhile, two studies in India pegged the percentage of asymptomatic omicron cases at 70% and 89%, respectively.
Omicron may be peaking in parts of US
The timeline unfolding in the Northeast is consistent with decline patterns in Britain and South Africa, although some experts say it’s too early to know for sure. Closer to home, UC San Diego says its student infection rate has begun to fall from its Jan. 6 peak.
EVENTS
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with Branford Marsalis
Saturday, 8 p.m. (sponsored by Illuminations: The Chancellor’s Arts & Culture Initiative)
UC Esports Invitational
Saturday and Sunday, noon (sponsored by UCEI)
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
Note: Some news sites require subscriptions to read articles. The UCI Libraries offer free subscriptions to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Orange County Register and The Washington Post for students, faculty and staff.
Butterfly Blueprints
PBS – NOVA, Jan. 12 (Video)
Guest: Adriana Briscoe, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology
Preventing Morphine Addiction and Potentially Curbing the Opioid Epidemic
The Academic Minute, Jan. 13 (Audio)
Guest: Oliver Civelli, professor of neuropharmacology
‘A major failure’: Fed under fire for handling of trading scandal
Financial Times, Jan. 12
Cited: Gary Richardson, professor of economics