Covid-19

[vu72]

Active cases are spiking on campus.  Now 30.  The University just announced that classes till the end of the semester  (Nov 25) will go online though apparently there will be accommodations for those wanting to take finals in person. Scary stuff.

Be well!

[78crusader]

In late September there were over 40,000 COVID cases among college students since schools resumed in August.  And 2 hospitalizations.  Maybe things have changed since then.

Paul

[vu72]

After day one of President Padilla's Presidency, he shut down the campus!  Great start! Seriously, the campus is going to all online classes because of a serious spike in cases.  Let's hope the Basketball team makes it out of town!

[78crusader]

Cases are up at VU, bucking the Indiana trend (actually, a nationwide trend) of declining COVID cases.  The number of COVID cases reported in Indiana:

March 1 540
February 1 1,709
December 31 6,468
December 1 5,296
November 1 1,709
October 1 1,157
September 1 695

Paul

[vu84v2]

Valpo had reported no more than 21 active cases at any time since the start of the semester, but it jumped in one day to 78 in the latest report. Definitely a cause for concern.

[valpotx]

On Texas Independence Day, our Governor lifted the mask mandate, and businesses are now allowed 100% capacity

[bbtds]

Valpo had reported no more than 21 active cases at any time since the start of the semester, but it jumped in one day to 78 in the latest report. Definitely a cause for concern.

I didn't want to use the "like" button here but such as is used on Facebook a "caring" button would work for me here. I'm terribly concerned about that kind of jump during a downturn. Texas citizens should also be concerned.

[78crusader]

The situation is not as dire as it seems. The University is doing mandatory testing now, whereas before they only tested kids who exhibited symptoms. As a result, the tests are catching a lot of kids who have had the virus at some point in time dating back to last semester. The vast majority of these positive test results are for kids who have no symptoms whatsoever.

Paul

Paul

[Just Sayin]

The situation is not as dire as it seems. The University is doing mandatory testing now, whereas before they only tested kids who exhibited symptoms. As a result, the tests are catching a lot of kids who have had the virus at some point in time dating back to last semester. The vast majority of these positive test results are for kids who have no symptoms whatsoever.

Paul

Paul

Covid tests don't pick up those who have had it in the past.  Only an antibody test can tell you that. Yes, the vast majority of people who get Covid are asiymptotic asymptomatic.

[vu84v2]

Depends on your definition of "vast". Most analysis suggests that between 50% and 70% of cases are asymptomatic. Might be a bit higher for college students.

[justducky]

The concept of a "Vaccination Passport" is concrete nowhere but under discussion everywhere. How do we best reopen safely? While realizing it could create court fights I'm still thinking that a more favorable entrance policy or seating status for vaccinated will likely happen. Locally (with vaccinations well underway) there is a new push to reopen all public meetings with masks and distancing. Who goes first and how do we make the transition? Who is doing what and where and what are the early results?

Internationally the border relaxations seem to be all over the map. Literally!  No final word from Canada but our fly-in fishing outfitter is speculating that proof of vaccination + a negative test result (less than 72 hrs old) should get us across the border where we directly drive to the fly out location, board the float plane and spend our quarantine time with the moose, and bears. I doubt if the local mosquitoes will mind but the fish might. 

Prioritizing nationally all school personnel should be next in line and it looks like it will be. No arguments here. Colleges and Universities should likely fall behind basic 1 thru 12 but you could argue differently.

[bbtds]

The concept of a "Vaccination Passport" is concrete nowhere but under discussion everywhere. How do we best reopen safely? While realizing it could create court fights I'm still thinking that a more favorable entrance policy or seating status for vaccinated will likely happen. Locally (with vaccinations well underway) there is a new push to reopen all public meetings with masks and distancing. Who goes first and how do we make the transition? Who is doing what and where and what are the early results?

Internationally the border relaxations seem to be all over the map. Literally!  No final word from Canada but our fly-in fishing outfitter is speculating that proof of vaccination + a negative test result (less than 72 hrs old) should get us across the border where we directly drive to the fly out location, board the float plane and spend our quarantine time with the moose, and bears. I doubt if the local mosquitoes will mind but the fish might. 

Prioritizing nationally all school personnel should be next in line and it looks like it will be. No arguments here. Colleges and Universities should likely fall behind basic 1 thru 12 but you could argue differently.

Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, was just interviewed on Meet the Press last Sunday and he stated very clearly that Canada had decided nothing about the border with the US and any decisions would be based on the infection rates. Otherwise people are just making guesses.

[VUFan2021]

Great job by Valpo staff and its student body in getting the COVID positive numbers under control in a short time period! While numbers are dropping across the nation, college campuses are still suffering from spikes. Duke just put their entire student body into quarantine conditions.

[crusadermoe]

Per the Wall Street Journal today, numbers of new cases nationally have reached their lowest level since early October.  Do you hear that in the MSM?...or from the teachers' unions?

[vu84v2]

Per the Wall Street Journal today, numbers of new cases nationally have reached their lowest level since early October.  Do you hear that in the MSM?...or from the teachers' unions?

The decline in new cases has definitely been reported in detail in the media (as well as ever-increasing numbers of vaccinated people). But the teachers need to get back in the classroom and stop the excuses (excluding the few who have legitimate medical reasons). There is way too much being lost from classes continuing to be remote. Teachers need to understand that they are responsible for students learning, not just filling time in whatever mode they (the teachers) prefer.

[justducky]

Trump encouraging everybody to be vaccinated is overdue but welcome news. Just for today I could kiss him.

[FWalum]

Positive COVID-19 tests in March Madness bubble, lets hope this thing actually goes forward without too many issues like forfeits or players not being allowed to play.

[valpotx]

Got my J&J shot today.  Glad to know that I just needed the one

[valpopal]

Indiana's Governor Holcomb announced today that beginning April 6 Indiana will no longer insist Hoosiers wear face masks in public, follow social distancing guidelines, or limit the size of social gatherings. Individuals, local governments, and businesses, including restaurants, may use their own discretion in setting guidelines, but the state will not interfere. Barring any setbacks, this is seen as a start of the return to normalization. Likewise, Valparaiso University has begun to loosen restrictions in phases. Indoor gatherings of 15 and outdoor gatherings of 30 are permitted, and the fitness center has reopened at 50% capacity. Beginning this weekend, the limits on gatherings rise to 25 indoors and 50 outdoors. In all larger gatherings, face masks and social distancing are still expected. However, recreational sports on campus also will be resumed. The university is hoping to phase toward some form of in-person graduation ceremony in May and full in-person normalization in fall semester. It is anticipated that these developments hopefully will be beneficial to fall enrollment numbers. 

[vu84v2]

This is coming to many universities....Northeastern is one of the largest private universities in the United States.

https://news.northeastern.edu/2021/04/06/northeastern-to-require-covid-19-vaccinations-for-all-students-this-fall/

[vu84v2]

Add DePaul to the list of schools requiring students to be vaccinated for the Fall semester. Stanford and all UC and Cal State universities too.

[vu72]

This map shows the states where vaccinations are the slowest.  As you can see, the deep South leads the way in slowness but Indiana is right there with them.  What's up with that?

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations

[M]

We are the northern most southern state 

[wh]

This map shows the states where vaccinations are the slowest.  As you can see, the deep South leads the way in slowness but Indiana is right there with them.  What's up with that?

https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations

I heard that at least 60% of adults have to be vaccinated before we can start to bring this epidemic to an end. It seems that a lot of people are figuring that enough people will get vaccinated so they don't have to. In the meantime we look like a society of mask wearing zombies, and people are still dying every day from the disease. My daughter and son-in-law have put it off, even though my wife and I got vaccinated with next to no side effects. So, what happened? My daughter and 2 of their 3 children tested positive 3 days ago. Now the whole family is in quarantine, the boys can't go to school, mom and dad have to work from home, my one grandson will miss multiple track meets, not to mention that my daughter is extremely fatigued and all the other stuff that goes with COVID. My advice to everyone - do your civic duty and get the freaking shots. Yes, there's a minuscule risk of an adverse reaction, but we assume some element of risk in everything we do.

[valpopal]

Add DePaul to the list of schools requiring students to be vaccinated for the Fall semester. Stanford and all UC and Cal State universities too.

I am told you will be able to add Valpo to that list.