URBANA – Administrators at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign want to expand their testing program to the broader Champaign-Urbana community. U of I System President Tim Killeen said earlier this week that the university system was working with Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to expand its saliva-based COVID-19 test to other communities and public institutions…
URBANA — The Big Ten Conference announced Wednesday that it will resume its football season with an eight-game conference-only schedule beginning the weekend of October 23-24. The news came just over a month after league officials said the season would be postponed until at least next spring. But University of Illinois chancellor Robert Jones says…
MONTICELLO – A group of advocates for patient safety from across the U.S. will gather in Washington D.C. this week to raise awareness about medical mistakes. Among them will be Monticello resident Tony Galbo, whose daughter Gabby died in 2012 at the age of 5 after getting a tick bite and developing a sepsis infection…
Sierra is in a bind. She and her husband have two children — ages three and nine years old — and they live in Urbana. Sierra’s 9-year-old son is attending school remotely this fall, because the local school district has deemed it unsafe to reopen for in-person instruction. While she and her husband placed their…
At a time when experts say help is needed more than ever, an Illinois law meant to boost mental health services on campus remains unfunded.
PAXTON, IL – Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, more people are reporting symptoms of depression, according to a recent study in the journal JAMA Network Open. The study finds those with lower incomes and high exposure to coronavirus stressors are at greatest risk. In rural Ford County, more people have reached out for help…
URBANA – About a thousand students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have tested positive for COVID-19 since twice-a-week coronavirus testing became mandatory for all students on Aug. 16. In an effort to get the spread of the virus under control, Chancellor Robert Jones ordered students Wednesday to significantly limit in-person activities for the…
CHICAGO – The U.S. food supply depends on millions of migrant and seasonal farmworkers, who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 because of circumstances in which they live and work. Outbreaks of COVID-19 on farms have killed more than a dozen farmworkers nationwide, and infected thousands more, according to tracking from the Food and Environment Reporting…
URBANA – Since Aug. 16, when twice-a-week COVID-19 testing was made mandatory for students arriving back to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 679 positive COVID-19 cases have been identified among students, faculty and staff, according to the U of I’s public database. Most of these are among students who arrived back to campus already…
RANTOUL – At least eight migrant workers who were infected with COVID-19 waited several days before isolating because the company they worked for, Bayer, declined to pay for expedited tests, Champaign County health officials said. The company’s rejection came after its occupational health team had agreed to pay about $5,000 in quick testing for about…
As of last August 28, election officials in Illinois had received more than a million applications for vote-by-mail ballots for the November 3rd election. The high number was hoped for, as a new state law expands the use of mail voting as a way to curb the spread of COVID-19. The Illinois State Board of…
GREENVILLE – A private college in southern Illinois is working with the University of Illinois to evaluate the effectiveness of the U of I’s COVID-19 Shield program on containing the spread of the virus at a small, rural campus. The program relies on a rapid, saliva-based test developed by U of I researchers, as well…
CHAMPAIGN – Some Illinois school officials are upset that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has not extended waivers that would allow districts to continue serving free meals to all students under 18 years of age. In a typical school year, students must meet specific criteria to qualify for the USDA-operated National School Lunch Program. Families…
URBANA – The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign launched a public database Monday, which reports how many saliva-based COVID-19 tests are being performed on the campus each day — and how many positive cases have been identified. Out of 50,945 tests run on students, faculty and staff from Aug. 17 through Aug. 23, 311 positive…
URBANA – The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign begins its fall semester today, with tens of thousands of students back on campus for a mix of in-person and online classes. Things look different around campus, with students, faculty and staff expected to wear masks, practice social distancing and get tested for COVID-19 twice a week….