COVID cases are surging again. Is it safe to gather for the holidays?
ST. LOUIS — With a recent jump in new coronavirus infections and the emergence of the highly contagious omicron variant, Americans are weighing whether it’s safe to gather for the holidays — again. Though vaccinations have helped curb the spread of the virus and encouraged the return of holiday traditions this year, an uneasy sense […]
Low vaccinations and high transmission make contact tracing in Vermilion County difficult during the holidays
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. […]
U of I epidemiologist says rising cases on campus ‘higher than we’d like,’ but ‘not unexpected’
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 […]
No pumpkin shortage this year, but climate change could squash Halloween harvests to come
MORTON — The great pumpkin shortage of 2021 is turning out to be as real as Linus’ Great Pumpkin. Neither ever showed. Instead, despite some national headlines about a pumpkin shortage this year, Midwestern farmers say there’s nothing to worry about. “God granted us quite a bounty this year,” says John Ackerman, who grows pumpkins […]
Food Banks Brace For Cold Weather, Holiday Season
URBANA – Since March, Eastern Illinois Foodbank has distributed almost nine million pounds of food. At this point last year, that number was just over seven million pounds. And demand isn’t slowing down. “The volume of food that we’ve been putting out has definitely changed because of the pandemic,” says Molly Delaney, Vice President of Development […]