THURSDAY February 25, 2021
THE DAILY ILLINI The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 150 Issue 35
Clinic vaccinates some of CU’s homeless population Community agencies partner together, plan to provide two doses
BY ALIZA MAJID STAFF WRITER
As the COVID-19 vaccine continues to roll out to eligible groups, advocates for the homeless community have created an opportunity for those individuals to receive a vaccine through an on-site clinic in Champaign. The C-U at Home agency partnered with Continuum of Care to pursue this agenda in order to aid vulnerable populations during the pandemic. “There was the understanding that everyone would want a vaccine, and we really wanted to advocate to make sure that people experiencing homelessness had the opportunity to be vaccinated because they are highly vulnerable to COVID-19,” said Thomas Bates, the Continuum of Care coordinator. Champaign County’s Continuum of Care service provides relief and support to the homeless population and attempts to end homelessness with various federal funds and intervention systems to help these individuals get back on their feet. According to Bates, there have already been two clinics that took place on Feb. 9 and Feb. 11. Around 30 people were able to receive the vaccines during these initial clinics. The clinic came together within 24 hours even though
the group has been advocating for several weeks to get these vaccines for the community. Bates sent a letter to the public health administrator for Champaign-Urbana Public Health District in early January and kept contacting them for updates in order to help coordinate the event. “I know that we will have another clinic 28 days after the initial one for the second doses because we did use a two-dose vaccine,” Bates said. “I think there will probably be other opportunities for initial vaccinations depending on the demand which was quite good for the first two. So hopefully we’ll be able to organize or advocate for more soon.” The pandemic presented many challenges for the homeless community since many emergency shelters across the country were on the rise of shutting down due to the severity of the virus. Champaign County had a year-round shelter only for families, and seasonal shelters for individuals. C-U at Home was planning to start a year-round shelter in November 2021 to provide housing relief for all community members, but COVID-19 pushed up these plans. These emergency shelters were at high risk for spreading the virus because of the large congregations that occurred
in these settings which is why many shelters were limited or shut down. The population is highly vulnerable to the virus, and as a result, the vaccine was highly requested for the community in order to prevent further risks. “Vaccinations for the homeless community are very important because homeless services are frequently given in congregate settings, which could promote the spread of COVID-19 infections,” said Robert Davies, the emergency preparedness coordinator. “Since many homeless people are older adults or have one or more underlying health conditions, they may also be at higher risk for serious illness.” As of right now, there is no definite date for future COVID-19 vaccine clinics, but it is currently being coordinated along with the follow-up sessions for those waiting on their second dose. alizam2@dailyillini.com Editor’s note: A previous version of this article said that Champaign County did not have a shelter for individual homeless people. Champaign has run seasonal shelters for individuals in the past, though they were not year-round. Additionally, C-U at Home is not presently planning a shelter for November 2021. The Daily Illini regrets these errors.
CAMERON KRASUCKI THE DAILY ILLINI
A Champaign County resident receives the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the Church of the Living God on Saturday afternoon. The C-U at Home group partnered with Continuum of Care to deliver COVID-19 vaccinations to the homeless population of Champaign-Urbana.
Contact tracers weigh privacy tradeoff CU police develop US uses alternate responses less digital for mental crises approach than other countries
STAFF WRITER
Urbana and Champaign police departments are in the early development stages of a collaborative alternate response option: a co-responder model that would allow social workers to respond to mental health crises in certain situations. Urbana Police Chief Bryant Seraphin said learning to properly respond to calls regarding mental health crises has been an important concern to law enforcement lately. Currently, each police officer is required to complete eight hours of mental health training. Certain officers complete additional crisis intervention team training which is a more advanced form
BY MATT TROHER STAFF WRITER
Contact tracing has undergone a transformation from being a relatively unknown process to becoming a household term during the pandemic. However, the way the vast majority of American public health departments conduct contact tracing has remained the same. Junghwan Kim, graduate student in LAS, recently published a research survey that offers an explanation as to why American public health departments have used the same method of contact tracing, despite growing research that suggests other methods may be more beneficial to public health. Published in the International Journal of GeoI n f or m at ion , K i m ’s resea rch investigated how willing people are to accept various COVID-19 mitigation measures that harness people’s location information. The survey measured individual’s attitudes toward digital contact tracing measures such as GPS tracking and wearing an eletronic-wristband to monitor self-quarantine. The sur vey, which recruited participants through social media and contains a sample slightly younger and highereducated than the general population, focused on two countries: South Korea and the United States. “The research indicates that people in South Korea are more willing to accept those COVID-19 mitigation measures harnessing sensitive geospatial data, and there is some kind of tradeoff relationship between privacy concerns and social benefits,” Kim said. “If a person has a lower privacy
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PHOTO COURTESY OF CHAMPAIGN-URBANA PUBLIC HEALTH DISTRICT
Employees work at their computers in the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District’s operations center. CUPHD conducts the vast majority of contact tracing in the area.
concern and higher social- efficient. benefits, then that person “The ‘traditional methis likely to accept those od,’ with the one-to-one COVID-19 inter v iews, measures.” may have The conlimita“I feel like when we call some tact tractions,” Kim ing methid. “It ’s people, it gives them sa od used in t i m e - c o s tthe Unit- the opportunity to talk ly because ed States, you need to it out with someone.” do the interwhich Kim refers to as view one by NANCY JOHNSON the “traone. In South CUPHD CASE MANAGER ditional Korea, the met ho d ,” traditionutilizes a al method is team of contact tracers also used, but if the intergetting in contact with the view is impossible or the COVID-19-positive indi- information seems a litvidual, asking questions tle bit invalid, then they about who they’ve been request those kinds of in contact with, and sub- additional information sequently notifying the through the legal way, then mentioned contacts. How- access that information to ever, in addition to the “tra- increase the validity of the ditional method,” health contact tracing.” departments in South Within the ChampaignKorea have utilized GPS Urbana community, two data, credit card transac- different methods of contions and closed-circuit tact tracing are used. The television recordings to Champaign-Urbana Pubmake contact tracing more lic Health District, which
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of mental health training. This team has “been a driving force behind what we locally named as One Door,” according to Seraphin. The major concept that the departments are still working on is the most efficient way to get police officers and mental health officials to work together and also to enhance the skills of officers who respond to these calls. The dispatcher that receives a 911 call can either send the call to the fire department or the police department, according to Seraphin. The police department receives almost every call dealing with a mental health crisis.
BY MONA ALRAZZAQ
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conducts the vast majority of contact tracing in the area, utilizes the “traditional method.” Nancy Johnson works as an operational lead for the emergency operations center at CUPHD and oversees CUPHD’s contact tracing department. Working off the “traditional method,” CUPHD’s team of 20-35 MARK CAPAPAS THE DAILY ILLINI contact tracers reach out by Champaign-Urbana police respond to a call on Green street phone to notify an individ- on Dec. 10, 2018. The department is developing alternate ual they’ve tested positive responses for mental health crises. for COVID-19, ask questions about who they’ve come in contact with and notify those contacts. Johnson noted that CUPHD’s contact tracing program reaches out personally to clarify any questions community members may have. “(The main benefit of our contact tracing program is) that we reach out to people Sports: Illini Features: ReStore personally,” Johnson said. learn about Black shop helps “I know there are some History Month build homes areas that are just doing by-
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