CHAMPAIGN — The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has halved the number of days of isolation recommended for those sick with COVID-19. Illinois school districts have not made that change – yet. The difference has caused enough confusion among parents that the Champaign Unit 4 School District superintendent had to email out a
CHAMPAIGN — Public health officials in Champaign County are sounding the alarm as the omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads across the country. Hospital officials say they already have more COVID patients than at any time this past year. Champaign-Urbana Public Health District administrator Julie Pryde says we’re already in a wave of infections from
DANVILLE — When Doug Toole, the director of the Vermilion County Health Department, and the department’s contact tracers get back to their desks in the morning, there are piles of calls to make. Those piles represent positive cases of COVID-19. Contact tracing is an important part of stopping the spread of COVID-19, according to Toole.
URBANA — The University of Illinois announced Monday that it will delay the start of in-person spring classes on its Urbana campus by one week. Chancellor Robert Jones said in a mass email to faculty, staff and graduate students that the first week of classes next semester will be online starting Tuesday, Jan. 18. U
CHAMPAIGN – Champaign County is experiencing one of its most intense COVID waves yet. Local hospitals are filling up and at least eight county residents have died in the last two weeks due to COVID-19. Meanwhile, the new and highly infectious omicron variant is taking hold in the United States. While it hasn’t been officially
CHAMPAIGN — The first pandemic-era standardized test results are out. Student achievement dropped all over Illinois, including in local school districts. Champaign Unit 4 fifth grade teacher Kim Tate sees pandemic stress as one reason behind the test score decline. “There’s that element of, ‘I have other priorities and concerns and even trauma.’ Because I
URBANA – Health officials reported late Tuesday that the omicron COVID-19 variant has been confirmed in a case in Illinois. The Illinois Department of Public Health and the Chicago Department of Public Health said the case was confirmed in a Chicago resident. That patient had been in contact with a person from another state who
CHAMPAIGN — University of Illinois football coach Bret Bielema has tested positive for COVID-19, the program announced on Tuesday. Bielema will miss this Saturday’s game at Iowa, where he played football in college, per team COVID protocols to help limit spread of the virus. In a statement, Bielema says he developed “mild symptoms” on Monday
URBANA – Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois in Urbana will soon start requiring audience members to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination, or of a negative test result. Beginning Tuesday, November 16, when the University of Illinois Wind Orchestra will be performing, the Krannert Center will require everyone attending performances
URBANA — The number of new COVID-19 cases on the University of Illinois Urbana campus has jumped over the last week. Campus officials reported 220 new cases over the last seven days, about three times as many as the previous week. To learn more, Illinois Newsroom’s Brian Moline spoke with U of I epidemiologist Rebecca
DANVILLE — Protestors from the group Vermilion County Health Advocates stood outside the Vermilion County Courthouse on Friday afternoon holding signs and wearing t-shirts saying “Unmask our Children” while cars honked in support. Meanwhile — inside the courthouse — Judge Karen Wall ruled against both Danville District 118 teachers and parents from Hoopeston Area School
URBANA – With a total of 8,303 students enrolled this fall, the freshmen class of 2025 is the largest ever at the University of Illinois Urbana campus. Yet, a recent university report shows a decrease in minority students enrollment. Director of Undergraduate Admissions Andy Borst said there was an increase this fall of students coming
DANVILLE – The VA hospital in Danville, Ill., has begun accepting non-Veteran patients who need inpatient care. The goal is to relieve some of the strain on other hospitals in the state — in particular, those in southern Illinois that have been stretched thin for weeks due to the latest COVID surge. Dr. Staci Williams,
CHAMPAIGN – Hundreds of runners and walkers turned out for the inaugural Run To Remember on Saturday morning in Champaign-Urbana. The 8K run and walk started off in front of the University of Illinois Memorial Stadium, 20-years after the September 11, 2001 attacks. And while it was not specifically created for that day, the race
An estimated 40,000 football fans, most unmasked, packed Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois Saturday for the first full-capacity game since the start of the pandemic. Spectators didn’t need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 to watch the Illini go head-to-head with the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers, said Kent Brown, Illinois’ associate director of athletics.