Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Trump maybe homeless soon.
Mar-a-Lago neighbors to Trump: Spend your post-presidency elsewhere
President Trump, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago in April 2017. (Alex Brandon/AP)
By
Dec. 15, 2020 at 5:50 p.m. CST
Next-door neighbors of Mar-a-Lago, President Trump’s private club in Palm Beach, Fla., that he has called his Winter White House, have a message for the outgoing commander in chief: We don’t want you to be our neighbor.
That message was formally delivered Tuesday morning in a demand letter delivered to the town of Palm Beach and also addressed to the U.S. Secret Service asserting that Trump lost his legal right to live at Mar-a-Lago because of an agreement he signed in the early 1990s when he converted the storied estate from his private residence to a private club. The legal maneuver could, at long last, force Palm Beach to publicly address whether Trump can make Mar-a-Lago his legal residence and home, as he has been expected to do, when he becomes an ex-president after the swearing-in of Joe Biden on Jan. 20.
The contretemps sets up a potentially awkward scenario, unique in recent history, in which a former Oval Office occupant would find himself having to officially defend his choice of a place to live during his post-presidency. It also could create a legal headache for Trump because he changed his official domicile to Mar-a-Lago, leaving behind Manhattan, where he lived before being elected president and came to fame as a brash, self-promoting developer. (Trump originally tried to register to vote in Florida using the White House in Washington as his address, which is not allowed under Florida law. He later changed the registration to the Mar-a-Lago address.)
In the demand letter, obtained by The Washington Post, an attorney for the Mar-a-Lago neighbors says the town should notify Trump that he cannot use Mar-a-Lago as his residence. Making that move would “avoid an embarrassing situation” if the outgoing president moves to the club and later has to be ordered to leave, according to the letter sent on behalf of the neighbors, the DeMoss family, which runs an international missionary foundation.
For years, various neighbors have raised concerns about disruptions, such as clogged traffic and blocked streets, caused by the president’s frequent trips to the club. Even before he was president, Trump created ill will in the town by refusing to comply with even basic local requirements, such as adhering to height limits for a massive flagpole he installed, and frequently attempting to get out of the promises he had made when he converted Mar-a-Lago into a private club.
“There’s absolutely no legal theory under which he can use that property as both a residence and a club,” said Glenn Zeitz, another nearby Palm Beach homeowner who has joined the fight against Trump and had previously tangled with him over Trump’s attempt to seize a private home to expand his Atlantic City casino. “Basically he’s playing a dead hand. He’s not going to intimidate or bluff people because we’re going to be there.”
A White House spokesperson, Trump’s local attorney and Palm Beach’s mayor did not respond to requests for comment. To date, Palm Beach has made no public attempt to prevent Trump from living at Mar-a-Lago or from using it as his legal residence.
The Mar-a-Lago residence that Trump plans to call home after departing the White House. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The current residency controversy tracks back to a deal Trump cut in 1993 when his finances were foundering, and the cost of maintaining Mar-a-Lago was soaring into the multimillions each year. Under the agreement, club members are banned from spending more than 21 days a year in the club’s guest suites and cannot stay there for any longer than seven consecutive days. Before the arrangement was sealed, an attorney for Trump assured the town council in a public meeting that he would not live at Mar-a-Lago.
At the time, the town’s leaders were wary of Trump because he had sued them after they blocked his attempt to subdivide the historic Mar-a-Lago property into multiple housing lots. Placing the limitations on lengths of stays assured that Trump’s property would remain a private club, as he had promised, rather than a residential hotel.
Trump tried to register in Florida using an out-of-state address
Documents obtained by The Post via a public records request suggest there may be gaps in Palm Beach’s enforcement of key provisions of the agreement that could affect Trump’s ability to live at the club. Each year, the club is required to report whether at least 50 percent of Mar-a-Lago’s members live or work in Palm Beach; that the club has fewer than 500 members; and that no one is using the guest suites more than 21 days a year. However, the town says it has no records of the reports for four of the past 20 years.
Trump has repeatedly attempted to change parts of his agreement. In 2018 he asked the town to waive a provision banning him from building a dock at the club, initially saying the Secret Service and local law enforcement officials needed the structure for his protection. The reasoning was later changed to say the dock was for the private use of the president and first lady Melania Trump. Neighbors feared that the dock would be used for rowdy booze cruises. Trump withdrew the dock request early this year — three days after a Washington Post report that unearthed the details of his 1993 agreement with the town.
Under fire, Trump withdraws his Mar-a-Lago dock plan—for now
Mar-a-Lago isn't just Trump's vacation spot; it's his second White House (The Washington Post)
Trump has traveled to Mar-a-Lago at least 30 times during his presidency, and spent at least 130 days there, according to a Post tally. There has been no public indication that the town has raised objections about that practice. Trump also has appeared to openly flout the agreement, stating on Mar-a-Lago’s website that he maintains private quarters there.
During his presidency, Palm Beach has shown deference on security issues, allowing a helipad that was expressly prohibited in his 1993 agreement. Once Trump leaves office, he will no longer have use of the helipad.
The 1993 Palm Beach agreement isn’t the only document that raises questions about whether Trump can legally live at Mar-a-Lago. He also signed a document deeding development rights for Mar-a-Lago to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a Washington-based, privately funded nonprofit organization that works to save historic sites around the country. As part of the National Trust deal, Trump agreed to “forever” relinquish his rights to develop Mar-a-Lago or to use it for “any purpose other than club use.”
The National Trust did not respond to requests for comment.
Trump made Florida his official residence. He may also have made a legal mess
The controversy over Trump’s expected move to Mar-a-Lago could muddy matters for the Secret Service, which will continue to protect him after he leaves office. Government agencies take pains to comply with all federal and local laws in their activities, and a legal dispute over Trump’s right to set up residence at Mar-a-Lago could complicate the Secret Service’s ongoing work to prepare for staff to secure his home and safety there.
A Secret Service spokesperson declined to comment.
Since this year’s election, the Secret Service has been preparing for Trump’s life after the White House and the protections he is legally due as a former president. A much-reduced set of Secret Service agents will shadow him in his private life, and the agency will man and occupy a separate room at his property as a base of security operations.
The protective service would need to make living arrangements for its agents in advance of Trump leaving the White House — wherever he ends up living. If he is suddenly blocked from living at Mar-a-Lago, the Secret Service would most likely have to scramble to develop a new plan to protect him at a different location.
The Mar-a-Lago neighbors would be okay with Trump finding a new place to bunk. Their letter, written by West Palm Beach attorney Reginald Stambaugh, includes a zinger that harks to the vibe of the old money enclave on Florida’s west coast: “Palm Beach has many lovely estates for sale, and we are confident President Trump will find one which meets his needs.”
Philip Bump contributed to this report.
December 15: Johns Hopkins COVID 19 Report
COVID-19
Updates on the COVID-19 pandemic from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
Additional resources are available on our website.
The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security also produces US Travel Industry and Retail Supply Chain Updates that provide a summary of major issues and events impacting the US travel industry and retail supply chain. You can access them here.
EPI UPDATE The WHO COVID-19 Dashboard reports 71.35 million cases and 1.61 million deaths as of 4:00am EST on December 15. The global cumulative incidence surpassed 70 million cases on December 13. From the first reported COVID-19 case, it took 90 days for the global total to reach 1 million cases.
1 case to 10 million- 177 days
10 to 20 million- 44 days
20 to 30 million- 37 days
30 to 40 million- 31 days
40 to 50 million- 21 days
50 to 60 million- 17 days
60 to 70 million- 17 days
The WHO reported new records in terms of both weekly incidence and mortality. Weekly incidence was 3.4% higher than the previous week, the second consecutive week-to-week increase. Mortality increased for the eighth consecutive week, although only a moderate 0.8% increase over the previous week. Additionally, the WHO reported new daily records for both incidence and mortality on December 11, with 695,808 new cases and 13,033 deaths.
UNITED STATES
The US CDC reported 16.11 million total cases and 298,266 deaths. The US reported a new single-day record for daily incidence on December 11, with more than 244,000 new cases. It continues to appear as though US daily incidence is beginning to taper off toward a peak or plateau; however, we have likely still not yet begun to see any effects from Thanksgiving travel and gatherings. If the Thanksgiving holiday had major impact on the US epidemic, we expect to begin to see the early evidence over the next week or two.
In terms of mortality, the US is averaging 2,430 deaths per day, which corresponds to 1 US death every 36 seconds. To date, the US has only exceeded this rate for a 3-day period from April 19-21, at the very peak of the initial US surge and just days after New York City reported 3,700 previously unreported probable COVID-19 deaths from the onset of its epidemic. We expect the US to surpass 300,000 cumulative deaths in this afternoon’s CDC update. From the first US death reported on February 29, it took 46 days to reach 25,000 deaths. From there:
25k to 50k- 9 days
50k to 75k- 13 days
75k to 100k- 20 days
100k to 125k- 31 days
125k to 150k- 32 days
150k to 175k- 24 days
175k to 200k- 31 days
200k to 225k- 34 days
225k to 250k- 24 days
250k to 275k- 14 days
275k to 300k- 11 days
According to analysis published on the COVID Exit Strategy website, 34 states; Washington, DC; and Puerto Rico are reporting increasing COVID-19 incidence over the past 2 weeks. Notably, the daily incidence has more than doubled in 3 states over that period—California, Maine, and South Carolina—and another 12 are reporting increases of 50% or more. Most of the increasing trends are in states along the East and West Coasts and the South, whereas states in the middle of the country are declining. In fact, a number of states that were severely affected earlier in the autumn resurgence have peaked in terms of daily incidence and are now reporting considerable decreases, including Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. These states were more severely affected earlier in the current surge, so it is not surprising that they are peaking earlier. Additionally, Hawai’i moved up from Caution Warranted to Trending Poorly as a result of worsening incidence and other indicators.
According to analysis by the COVID Tracking Project, all but 3 states have reported record high daily incidence since the beginning of November, including 17 since last week. While the vast majority of states recently peaked or continue to report record-high and/or increasing incidence, regional differences are emerging here as well. The Midwest region is the only one to have passed a peak in daily incidence or hospitalizations, although mortality continues to increase across all 4 regions. The Midwest and South regions appear as though they may be at or approaching a peak in daily mortality, but more data are needed to better characterize the longer-term trends. Additionally, 13 states and Washington, DC, are reporting increasing hospitalizations over the past week, and another 13 are reporting positive trends but less than +10% cutoff to be classified as “Rising.” While the regional mortality may be beginning to turn in the Midwest, Iowa and North and South Dakota continue to report per capita daily mortality substantially higher than the rest of the country, on the order of 50% or higher than any other state.
The Johns Hopkins CSSE dashboard reported 16.55 million US cases and 301,264 deaths as of 11:30am EST on December 15.
US FDA AUTHORIZES PFIZER VACCINE On December 11, the US FDA issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which allowed Pfizer to begin distributing the first allotments of the vaccine nationwide. The FDA also published guidance for vaccinators—including storage, thawing, dilution, and dosing information—and recipients. The EUA specifically authorizes the vaccine for use in individuals aged 16 years and older, but as we covered previously, not everyone in this population will be immediately eligible for vaccination. Eligibility will be expanded slowly, starting with priority populations such as high-risk individuals and essential workers. The only contraindication listed in the vaccine information is a history of allergies to vaccine ingredients, although safety monitoring and reporting will be ongoing as the vaccination program unfolds in order to identify any additional conditions associated that could be associated with adverse events following vaccination.
US VACCINE DISTRIBUTION & ADMINISTRATION On December 11-12, the US Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) met to approve its interim recommendations for use of the Pfizer/BioNTech SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, following the FDA’s issuance of an EUA. The content of the recommendations, published in the US CDC’s MMWR, provide an update to the initial interim guidance published on December 3. ACIP also updated the underlying evidence considered in developing the recommendations. ACIP recommended that the vaccine could be administered to those aged 16 years or older in the US, and that two doses should be administered 21 days apart. ACIP previously also stated that initial doses should be prioritized for healthcare personnel and long-term care facility residents in the first tier of recipients. Notably, the EUA included a provision for pregnant women to potentially be immunized.
The first shipments of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have already been sent out from Pfizer’s facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, as well as a distribution center in Wisconsin, and vaccination efforts began across the country. Most of the initial reports indicated that healthcare workers were among the first to be vaccinated, as major hospitals are better equipped than many locations to maintain the resource-intensive storage requirements, including that the vaccine be maintained at -112°F (-80°C). Many hospitals will serve as hubs to distribute vaccines locally for long-term care facilities (LCTFs), and there are reports that vaccinations have already commenced at some LCTFs as well.
VACCINE COMBINATIONS As initial doses of first generation SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are being distributed in some countries, discussions are already underway to optimize second generation vaccine formulations and dosing schedules. Last week, AstraZeneca announced that it is collaborating with the developers of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine to determine whether administering a combination of the two vaccines could improve efficacy. Reportedly, the initial clinical trials of the combination vaccine would be held in Russia to assess this will begin in Russian adults. According to the press release issued by AstraZeneca, the UK government has already announced upcoming clinical trials to evaluate combinations of adenovirus-based vaccines, like those produced by AstraZeneca/Oxford University and Russia’s Gamaleya Research Institute, and mRNA vaccines, like those from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna; however, the AstraZeneca and Gamaleya Institute collaboration will evaluate a combination of two adenovirus-based vaccines.
Utilizing a combination of different vaccines for the same pathogen is called “heterologous boosting,” and it aims to improve both efficacy and accessibility. AstraZeneca indicated that the heterologous boosting approach could speed the process of completing the 2-dose regimen, particularly if the availability of some vaccines is limited; however, UK government health officials stated that the focus is on improving the immune response and not a response to limited supply.
EUROPE COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS
GERMANY
Despite implementing “partial lockdown” measures in early November, Germany is strengthening restrictions ahead of the winter holidays. Germany’s daily incidence has increased tenfold since the beginning of October, and its cumulative incidence increased quadrupled over that time. The magnitude of this “second wave” spurred the German government to take further actions. In the previous partial lockdown, bars and restaurants were closed, while stores and schools remained open.
In this new “reinforced” lockdown, currently scheduled from December 16 to January 10, schools, retail stores other than grocery stores and supermarkets, and other non-essential businesses will be closed, in addition to bars and restaurants. Businesses that are mandated to close will receive financial support from the government, up to €500,000 (US$600,000) per month. Germany is also implementing household visiting restrictions, with some minor exceptions for Christmas. Gatherings will be limited to a maximum of 5 total individuals from 2 households. Over Christmas, including Christmas Eve, households may invite 4 additional people “from the closest family circle.” These celebratory exceptions do not apply to New Year’s Eve. Scheduled New Year’s events are being cancelled, and Germany banned the sale of fireworks. By entering this period of reinforced lockdown, German authorities are hoping to stave off another potential wave that could overwhelm its healthcare system and provide enough time for the European Medicines Agency to authorize a vaccine and vaccination efforts to commence.
UNITED KINGDOM
Many areas of the UK are entering the highest tier of COVID-19 restrictions. All boroughs of London as well as areas of Essex and Hertfordshire in England will enter Tier 3 restrictions, which include limitations on indoor and outdoor gatherings and closures for non-essential businesses. A majority of England’s population, 34 million people, will be affected. Individuals not living in Tier 3 areas are advised not to travel to and from those areas. A number of the restrictions, including on indoor gatherings, will be relaxed for Christmas celebrations. The UK will permit individuals and families to form a “Christmas bubble”, which will allow individuals from up to 3 households to visit each other indoors and stay overnight. Travel restrictions will also be lifted to allow individuals to visit family members anywhere in the UK.
NETHERLANDS
Like its neighbor Germany, the Netherlands is also strengthening “lockdown” restrictions ahead of the holiday season. The Dutch government decided to order renewed measures against COVID-19 following a sharp rise in cases over the last 2 weeks. Following a 50% decrease in daily incidence from its second peak, the Netherlands jumped back up 70% since December 1. Under the updated restrictions, non-essential businesses must close, schools must switch to remote learning, and gatherings are limited to 2 people, even outdoors. Notably, households will be permitted to have 3 guests indoors from December 24-26, not including children aged 12 years and younger. The Dutch government also outlined “crucial professions” that are permitted to continue in-person operations and noted that children of crucial workers may still attend primary school or after-care programs.
FRANCE
In contrast to some other European countries, France is taking steps to ease COVID-19 restrictions. After passing its second peak, France ended its “lockdown” today and relaxed some social distancing measures. Rather than a formal lockdown period, France is instituting an 8pm curfew that aims to limit transmission at gatherings at times when people may be less vigilant about implementing appropriate protections, such as physical distancing and mask use. After 8pm, most businesses will be directed to close, and individuals will need to carry official exemption certificates in order to be out in public. Violators could face fines of €135, and up to € 3,750 for repeat offenders. Bars, restaurants, and nightclubs are scheduled to remain closed until January 20. The French government will permit individuals and families to travel on December 24 but public gatherings will be prohibited. While the restrictions will be eased slightly for Christmas Eve, France intends to enforce the curfew on January 31, New Year’s Eve.
EUROPEAN MEDICINES AGENCY VACCINE AUTHORIZATION Following regulatory agencies in Canada, the UK, and the US authorizing the use of Pfizer and BioNTech’s SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is set to complete its assessment by next week. The EMA’s human medicines committee (CHMP) received additional data yesterday and scheduled a meeting for December 21 to discuss its recommendations regarding a conditional authorization. Like in other countries, the official determination will be made by the EMA with strong consideration of the CHMP’s recommendations. The meeting was moved forward from December 29, but the CHMP is keeping the originally scheduled meeting on the calendar in the event it is needed. The timing of the CHMP meeting has been criticized as delayed, particularly in light of the authorizations already issued in Canada, the UK, and the US; however, EMA’s Executive Director, Emer Cooke, suggested that the other countries received the clinical trial data earlier than the EMA.
Reports emerged yesterday that documents related to Moderna’s application for conditional authorization for its candidate SARS-CoV-2 vaccine was accessed via a cyberattack on the EMA. The EMA was also attacked earlier in December, during which hackers gained access to documents related to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine as well. Reportedly, the Moderna documents did not include personally identifiable information for study participants.
REMDESIVIR & BARICITINIB Researchers conducting clinical trials under the Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial 2 (ACCT-2) program published findings from a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial evaluating the effect of remdesivir and baricitinib combination therapy for COVID-19. The study, published in NEJM, included more than 1,000 participants divided approximately equally between patients treated with remdesivir and baricitinib and patients treated with just remdesivir (in combination with a placebo).
The primary analysis focused on time to recovery, and the researchers identified a slight but significant improvement among the treatment group. Patients who received the combination therapy recovered in an average of 7 days, compared to 8 days among the control group. Perhaps most notably, however, the researchers identified an improvement in recovery time from 18 days to 10 days among the 216 patients who received high-flow oxygen therapy or non-invasive ventilation. The researchers indicate that the faster recovery time among these patients with severe disease could be a result of reduced risk of hospital-acquired infections and thrombosis.
GUILLAIN-BARRÉ SYNDROME Researchers in the UK published findings from a study on Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and COVID-19. GBS is a relatively rare neurological condition that can develop following various kinds of infections, including viral, and some have speculated that COVID-19 could be driving an increase in GBS. GBS can cause pain and numbness and even muscle weakness or paralysis in severe cases. If the weakness or paralysis affects the muscles responsible for breathing, it could be fatal, and patients could require mechanical ventilation.
The GBS study, published in Brain, found no causative association between GBS and COVID-19. The researchers compared GBS data during the UK’s first COVID-19 wave (March-May 2020) against GBS data from 2016-19. Like many other health conditions, reports of GBS decreased during the first wave, falling from 113-132 cases in March-May in 2016-19 to 56-93 cases in 2020. This could be a result of individuals delaying medical care during the UK’s “lockdown” or a reduction in transmission of other infections that could lead to GBS. The researchers also included seroprevalence data for SARS-CoV-2 infection among blood donors, and they estimate the risk of GBS to be approximately 0.016 cases of GBS per 1,000 cases of COVID-19. The researchers also evaluated patient-level data from 47 GBS cases reported in the UK, including 13 confirmed and 12 probable COVID-19 cases and 22 non-COVID-19 patients. They identified an increase in the use of intubation among GBS patients with COVID-19, which the researchers believe is “likely” due to the pulmonary effects of COVID-19 rather than increased severity of GBS presentation.
GBS has previously been identified following vaccination, with frequency estimates ranging from occasional to rare. Following influenza vaccination efforts in the US in 1976-77, reports of GBS in recently vaccinated individuals ultimately resulted in the suspension of vaccination activities, and this historical example has contributed to concerns about links between vaccination and GBS. In light of the UK and other countries commencing SARS-CoV-2 vaccination efforts, the research study was published alongside a commentary regarding the risk of GBS associated with SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. The commentary—authored by researchers from the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, and the US—called on health and elected officials to resist the urge to link GBS cases after vaccination to the vaccine. The researchers outline approximations for expected incidence of GBS under normal conditions, and they conclude that normal GBS incidence would result in more than 13,000 cases globally in the 10 weeks following a SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, without any effect at all from the vaccine. They use this analysis to highlight that many individuals will inevitably develop GBS, whether they are vaccinated or not, and a substantial portion of these cases will, by pure coincidence, develop in the period after vaccination. It is critically important to closely monitor for adverse events, but it is just as important to ensure that we do not unnecessarily suspend vaccination activities as a result of preconceived notions regarding the risk of GBS or other conditions.
U of I knows how to test.
University of Illinois hits 1,000,000 coronavirus tests faster than 10 U.S. states
·Reporter
Tue, December 15, 2020, 10:04 AM CST
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has administered one million COVID-19 tests over the course of 2020, according to the school’s dashboard.
This means that the school — which is located in Central Illinois, about 150 miles south of Chicago — has done more tests than the states of Wyoming, Vermont, South Dakota, Montana, Hawaii, Idaho, Delaware, Kansas, New Hampshire, and Maine.
“This milestone is far more than an accumulation of lab results,” the school’s chancellor Robert Jones said in a statement. “Every one of those million tests was a personal decision to protect friends, co-workers, and complete strangers.”
“We knew that testing was going to be really important, but testing is not a silver bullet,” Martin Burke, a chemistry professor at the university who helped design the school’s COVID-19 test, told Yahoo Finance.
(Screenshot of UIUC dashboard on December 15, 2020)
Using testing ‘to go on offense’
Burke explained that the school used testing “to go on offense” along with tracing and isolating cases before they escalated into outbreaks and developing an app to identify and inform people if they’ve been in contact with someone who has been infected.
The university is not alone in successfully controlling the spread of the coronavirus on campus. Duke University was also singled out by the CDC for its COVID strategy. Illinois and Duke are among a group of 106 colleges that performed testing on arrival, according to one small survey of 289 colleges in October.
A COVID-19 saliva sample is collected as testing is conducted on July 7, 2020, in a tent on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The University of Illinois is in a league of its own, though.
Burke explained that the test administered by UIUC is saliva-based, rather than nasal testing, which is a lot less unpleasant, much faster, and allowed UIUC to get around supply chain constraints.
About 44 schools in the survey used saliva-based testing while the majority used nasal specimens and nasopharyngeal methods. The wider public does not have broad access to this saliva-based testing.
Testing was also administered repeatedly on students, faculty, staff, and retirees of the school. For instance, undergraduates who remained on campus after the Thanksgiving break had to test negative every other day to keep their building access, until Dec. 18, which was the end of the fall semester.
“Driven largely by the volume of testing at [UIUC], Champaign County accounts for nearly 10% of all testing conducted within the state since the beginning of the pandemic,” the school’s website states, “and about 0.5% of all national testing.”
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus on Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. (E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
More than 200 campuses have reported conducting surveillance testing and asymptomatic screening on their residential students, with about a quarter testing them more than once a week.
The wider public is experiencing slowdowns not just in accessing testing, but also receiving results.
And most important: It was also free for these groups on campus. Even though the price of testing so many and so regularly was high — about $10 for each saliva test — spending around $10 to $15 million was ultimately “the best investment you can make,” when compared to the cost of keeping campus on lockdown, Burke said.
“If universities can do it, they should do it. And as a country, we should do it,” he added.
The U.S. topped 300,000 deaths. (Graphic: David Foster/Yahoo Finance)
Once those on campus were tested, the school could effectively monitor any reports of positive cases, and if necessary, isolate the COVID-positive individual.
The school also accelerated development of the ‘Safer Illinois’ mobile app that uses bluetooth technology to notify a user if they are in the vicinity of someone who had recently tested positive. 45,000 users have downloaded it.
The app also has a status screen which they need to use to gain entry to university facilities during the pandemic. “Actually a bunch of bars and restaurants started using it,” Burke noted, “so it became a great way to engage with our community and help promote safe socialization.”
University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana chancellor Robert J. Jones on October 8, 2016 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
‘One of the safest places to be’
There were cases of students in the university flouting rules and holding large gatherings, which earned the condemnation of school administrators. But those cases did not escalate into full-blown outbreaks.
“We kept classes open, we kept businesses open, we kept research going,” Burke said. “We had no hospitalizations, … and thankfully just no deaths.”
UIUC Chancellor Robert Jones, who joined Yahoo Finance in an interview in late November added: “My university, my campus is one of the safest places to be.”
The school is now working with several partners to help colleges — including Notre Dame — as well as K-12 school districts and even companies across the country.
Given that young people are not likely to be vaccinated in the near-term, “testing could be a critical bridge,” Burke noted. “It's going to take longer than any of us would like, and we've got to get our kids back to school. … We can't take a year off, to just wait for the vaccine to get distributed.”
—
Aarthi Swaminathan is a reporter for Yahoo Finance covering education. If you have a story idea, or would like to share how your college or school is preparing to reopen, reach out to her at aarthi@yahoofinance.com
Above is from: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/university-of-illinois-hits-1-m-coronavirus-tests-more-than-ten-us-states-160457366.html
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