April 28 - Drive Sober’ campaign; vaccine research award
Section 1
Anteater Time Machine: In advance of the 50th anniversary of Title IX this June, we flash back to the Women’s Resource Center stairwell, circa May 1981. Opened in 1973, the center offered a reading group, self-defense classes, consciousness-raising groups, daycare and other activities. Scroll down for more photos unearthed by Derek Christian Quezada Meneses, outreach & public services librarian at UCI.
UCI ANNOUNCEMENTS AND NEWS
Philip Felgner directs UCI’s Vaccine Research and Development Center. Photo by Steve Zylius/UCI
Vaccine breakthrough leads to prestigious Robert Koch Prize
For research that played a crucial role in developing RNA COVID-19 vaccines, UCI’s Philip Felgner will share the prestigious 2022 Robert Koch Prize. Felgner, a professor in residence of physiology & biophysics, said the pioneering technology “holds great promise for creating preventive vaccines that will help avoid future pandemics and fight HIV and other infectious diseases. It also offers possibilities for treating cancer and Alzheimer’s disease and correcting genetic disorders such as sickle cell disease.” He shares the prize with Dr. Drew Weissman at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.
UCI ‘Drive Sober’ campaign seeks student ambassadors
Drive Sober SoCal, a UCI effort to discourage driving under the influence of drugs or booze, is seeking student ambassadors to help promote unimpaired motoring via social media. Funded by a state traffic safety grant to UCI’s Department of Emergency Medicine, the program has launched Facebook and Twitter accounts. For more information, email snjarvis@hs.uci.edu.
UC NEWS AND GENERAL NEWS
What health experts say about ending mask mandate
Dr. Shruti Gohil, associate medical director of epidemiology and infection prevention at UCI Health, said choosing the best time to end a mask mandate is complicated. However, “you’ve got to end it sometime,” she said, pointing to several positive signs that now might be the right time. Mask mandates made more sense before we had effective COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, Gohil noted, but now we’re in a “transition moment,” moving from a pandemic state to an endemic state for the virus.
What are the odds of getting COVID twice?
Reinfections are more common and can happen within a shorter window of time than doctors previously thought possible, recent research suggests. On average, second-round symptoms tend to be mild in otherwise healthy people, but some cases are serious, and the risk of long COVID is unclear.
State cases rise, but hospitalizations near record lows
California is now reporting roughly 5,000 new coronavirus infections a day, up nearly 85% from last month. But hospitalizations (1,008 statewide) are at near-record lows. In L.A. County, for example, the number of coronavirus-positive hospital patients fell to 209 on Friday — the lowest single-day total on record.
EVENTS
Celebration of Heroes Presentation of Pioneers of Science
Friday, 1:30 p.m. (sponsored by UCI Health Affairs)
Black Management Association conference
Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3:20 p.m. (sponsored by Merage School Black Management Association)
Undocumented Students Conference: Rising Together, Thriving Together
Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. (sponsored by UCI Dream Center and Student Success Initiative)
Jewish Literatures and Their Neighbors
Sunday, 1:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.; Monday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (sponsored by UCI Center for Jewish Studies)
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.
Metropolitan Water District Declares Drought Emergency & Snow Survey Shows Improved Snowpack
KPCC, April 27 (Audio)
Cited: Amir AghaKouchak, professor of civil and environmental engineering and Earth system science
U.S. no longer in ‘full-blown’ pandemic phase, Fauci says
The Washington Post, April 27
Cited: Andrew Noymer, associate professor of public health
How to Know if Your N95 Mask Is Counterfeit or Real
Health, April 27
Cited: Dr. Shruti Gohil, assistant professor of medicine and associate medical director of epidemiology and infection prevention
#UCICONNECTED
A conversation in the Women’s Resource Center in 1981.
A group meets in the Women’s Resource Center in 1981.
#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.