![]() “It has been traveling around in schools, and it goes home from there. He was still tired in classes this week and felt the coronavirus fog lingering between his thoughts.Ĭhampaign-Urbana Public Health Administrator Julie Pryde says schools are seeing spikes in cases this fall. It’s his first bout with COVID-19 since the pandemic started. Sixth grader Ezra Chynoweth returned to Urbana Middle School on Tuesday after a week of feverish isolation in his room. Vaid says the longest wait time last week was six to seven minutes, and most people only waited two to three minutes.ĬOVID spreads at K-12 schools Ezra Chynoweth, 11, and his mom, Danielle. “Even with the long lines, it was moving pretty fast,” Vaid says. ![]() This has left University of Illinois students and staff with one COVID-19 testing site at the Illini Union – and long lines to get into the site on busy days. ![]() The University of Illinois has scaled down its coronavirus response in Champaign-Urbana this fall, mirroring a shift from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention towards focusing on hospitalizations and deaths rather than preventing all cases. “There are a lot of locations on campus that met the criteria, the campus thought it would be good to offer a site for the community where the campus population can also take advantage of it,” Vaid says. The area around the University of Illinois does meet the income requirements of a socially vulnerable location and can get state and federal dollars for the site. Vaid says new state and federal requirements make the YMCA and Parkland College ineligible to continue hosting SHIELD Illinois saliva-based testing. The new site would be open to the broader community as well, according to McKinley Health Center Director Awais Vaid. ![]() University of Illinois considers additional testing sitesĪfter starting the semester with one coronavirus testing site, the University of Illinois is considering opening an additional site. Individuals must complete that first series before getting the omicron-specific booster. Pryde says she’s encouraged by a recent uptick in locals getting their first coronavirus shots. Those 12 and older can start booking appointments there. Pryde says pharmacies, including those located in grocery stores, are already starting to get their own shipments. So it does have the old strain in it, as well as the omicron-specific one, so that that should help,” Pryde says. “It is supposed to help with stopping transmission as well, because it is a bivalent vaccine. Pryde says the booster does more than dull the severity of the disease. The health department will open slots for those 12 and older starting on Sept. Food and Drug Administration last week – is on its way to Champaign County.ĬUPHD is hosting its first clinic for the booster on Monday for those 50 and older. That booster – the omicron-specific, bivalent vaccine authorized by the U.S. Pryde says the only way to stop this wave is to wear masks indoors and get the latest COVID-19 booster. Centers for Disease Control and PreventionĬase numbers have stayed high in Champaign County all summer due to the highly contagious omicron variant. Pryde says that’s partially because there are more people in town when the University of Illinois is in session. Traces of COVID-19 in Champaign County wastewater has exponentially increased since mid-August. It seems like the University of Illinois is causing more community spread, but they really aren’t,” Pryde says. “We’ve had high transmission for the last two months. She says that despite appearances, the University of Illinois simply joined the existing wave of cases when it reopened for classes this fall. Julie Pryde leads the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD). CHAMPAIGN - Undergraduates at the University of Illinois tested positive for COVID-19 in record numbers last week.
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