URBANA – Champaign County has been living with COVID-19 for one year. Sunday, March 15, 2020, was the day when the first COVID-19 case was announced in Champaign County. The news turned the coronavirus from a headline for county residents, to an eminent danger that has yet to let up. An effort was made to…
MURPHYSBORO – Some who work for clinics targeting vulnerable, hard-to-reach populations say they would like to play a bigger role in the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines. But those clinics are still waiting to get access to doses. Karla Grathler is the coordinator of the Farmworker Health Program at Shawnee Health Service, a community health center…
CHAMPAIGN – Champaign Unit 4 teacher Dominique McCotter is one of 32 pre-K through third grade finalists for the Illinois Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching this year. McCotter is a Kindergarten teacher at Dr. Howard Elementary School. The statewide award honors teachers for their impact on student growth and learning. Recipients of the…
Rhonda Bomwell had never used a flea and tick collar before. Pierre, her 9-year-old Papillon service dog, was mostly an indoor animal. Still, her veterinarian recommended she purchase one, so Bomwell went to the pet store near her home in Somerset, New Jersey, and selected Bayer’s Seresto collar. A day later, on June 2, 2020,…
BRIDGEVIEW – In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayra Ramirez contracted the virus and ended up in the ICU on life support. She was 28 years old. The virus had severely damaged her lungs that her doctors concluded she would not survive the illness unless she got a double-lung transplant. In June, Mayra…
Mise à jour le premier mars, 11:00 a.m. C’est un post au sujet de quels résidents de l’Illinois peuvent recevoir le vaccin contre le COVID-19, quand, et où. L’Illinois a commencé sa nouvelle étape de vaccination qui inclut les travailleurs essentiels et les résidents âgés de 65 ans ou plus. RESSOURCES Illinois Department of Public…
Actualizado el 8 de marzo a las 11:00 a.m.Esta es una publicación actualizada sobre la cual los residentes de Illinois pueden recibir la vacuna COVID-19, cuándo y dónde. Illinois ha comenzado su fase de vacunación más reciente que cubre a los trabajadores y residentes esenciales de 65 años o más. RECURSOS • Departamento de Salud…
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s decision during the COVID-19 pandemic to conduct many inspections virtually — instead of onsite — risked worker safety, the U.S. Department of Labor’s inspector general concluded in an audit report released Tuesday. The report does not specifically mention OSHA’s enforcement at meatpacking plants, which quickly became COVID-19 hotspots last year, but…
Published in collaboration with the Investigative Reporting Workshop. Even before COVID-19, aides caring for elderly and disabled people in nursing homes often were overworked and underpaid, doing everything from changing linens to helping residents eat to physically rotating them to prevent bedsores. Ashley Ford often was one of four aides for as many as 42 residents…
URBANA – The University of Illinois’ COVID-19 testing process has received Emergency Use Authorization from the federal Food and Drug Administration. Authorization was granted in a February 24 letter to the university from FDA Chief Scientist, Rear Admiral Denise M. Hinton. Ben Taylor, spokesman for Shield Illinois, the U of I’s program for marketing…
CHAMPAIGN – Anyone who lacks health insurance — or wants to change their marketplace coverage — has through May 15 to sign up for options offered through the Affordable Care Act. That’s thanks to a three-month special enrollment period that began Feb. 15 — after President Biden signed an executive order to open up the…
CHAMPAIGN – Earlier this month, 1,291 teachers and other staff members at Champaign Unit 4 Schools received their first dose of the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. This week, they return for a second dose. Dozens of staff members and some members of the community filed in and out of Centennial High School on Monday. They…
The Illinois Newsroom team is answering questions to help Illinois residents navigate this unprecedented time. Have a question you want to be answered? Ask here. Below you’ll find answers to questions about COVID-19 vaccines, schools and their response to the pandemic, as well as business and government aid. Please note: This information is accurate as…
URBANA – Carle has begun offering addiction recovery services through its mobile health clinic. Since 2018, the mobile clinic has traveled to neighborhoods in Champaign-Urbana and the surrounding area to provide non-urgent medical care. Patients can now come to the mobile clinic to receive individual counseling and medication for addiction treatment and get plugged into…
The University of Illinois has backed down from an initial decision to dismiss a graduate student for a full year for not getting regular COVID-19 tests during the fall semester. Late last month, Yidong “Ivor” Chen, a fourth year physics PhD student from China, faced a disciplinary committee made up of students, faculty and staff…