Even before the pandemic began, Lisbeth Hernandez says she was exhausted. Hernandez is heading into her senior year at Dominican University, a small Catholic college in Chicago’s western suburbs. Hernandez is undocumented, and she has temporary legal protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Even so, she’s unable to receive federal financial…
URBANA – Despite the precautions that will be taken when the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign reopens this fall, campus officials acknowledge outbreaks could still occur. In a webinar Wednesday, campus officials provided more detail about reopening plans as they pertain to housing, in-person and online instruction and other aspects of campus life. Precautions to…
SPRINGFIELD – Prospective and currently enrolled college students may be eligible for additional financial aid if their economic circumstances have changed significantly since they first filled out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Jacqueline Moreno, managing director of college access and outreach for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC), says her office has…
CHAMPAIGN – At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign began meeting daily with health care professionals from Carle Health System to discuss how to meet urgent needs in the health care community. Among those needs: personal protective equipment, or PPE, including N95 respirator masks, surgical gowns and…
CHICAGO – Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced official guidelines for the state to enter Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois Plan this week. The governor says all four regions of the state are on track to meet the requirements needed to enter Phase 4, which is being called “Revitalization.” In this phase, gatherings of 50 people…
URBANA – The University of Illinois system, including its campuses in Urbana, Springfield and Chicago, will welcome back tens of thousands of students this fall. In an announcement Thursday, university officials laid out plans to offer a mix of in-person and online instruction. The announcement comes days after staff at the U of I’s Urbana…
URBANA – Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have created a saliva-based COVID-19 test. During a webinar hosted Tuesday by U of I Chancellor Robert Jones and other university staff, Martin Burke, a U of I chemistry professor, announced that they had the capacity to test up to 10,000 people per day. He…
Blood drives have been considered an essential service in Illinois during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they’ve still seen a decline in donations since the pandemic began. Now, as elective surgeries return to full swing at hospitals, local blood centers are asking for more people to donate. The drop in blood donations initially corresponded with a…
SPRINGFIELD – The state announced Friday that the 2020 Illinois and Du Quoin State Fairs will be cancelled this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Illinois joins Indiana, Iowa, Wisconsin and other states in canceling the annual gathering of livestock displays, entertainment and food. The Department of Agriculture is arranging a virtual Junior Livestock Show…
The Illinois Department of Public Health has so far collected more than 1 million COVID-19 tests from testing sites across the state. Illinois Newsroom education reporter Lee Gaines spoke with Morning Edition host Brian Moline about what it was like to get tested at Champaign’s drive thru COVID-19 testing site. Lee Gaines: Well, I want…
Doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago announced Thursday they’ve performed the first successful double-lung transplant on a COVID-19 patient in the United States. The woman in her 20s was otherwise healthy but developed a severe case of COVID-19 that resulted in hospitalization, says Dr. Ankit Bharat, Northwestern’s chief of thoracic surgery. For two months,…
URBANA – The union for graduate student workers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign wants most instruction to stay online through the fall semester — as a precaution against the coronavirus. U of I officials released a report last week produced by a university-appointed task force that outlines possible scenarios for the fall semester,…
URBANA – Exposure to severe, chronic stress affects children’s growth and development. But while some children seem to be damaged by early adversity, others are able to thrive. Following a screening of the film “Broken Places” on WILL-TV on Monday, Illinois Newsroom spoke with a panel of local experts about how supportive relationships early in…
SPRINGFIELD – In the months after the COVID-19 pandemic forced schools in Illinois to be closed, calls to the state’s child abuse and neglect hotline dropped significantly. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services said in a statement June 1 that calls to report suspected abuse and neglect are down by 57% compared to…
CHAMPAIGN – Health officials say anyone who’s been out to a rally, protest or other mass gathering should get tested for COVID-19. Champaign-Urbana Public Health Administrator Julie Pryde says anyone experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19 should get tested right away. Otherwise, she says it’s best to get tested five to seven days after possible exposure…