THE DAILY ILLINI
THURSDAY October 8, 2020
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 150 Issue 14
Dining halls rework menus, add variety UI opens new in-person eating options with limitations
inspired cuisine. Up until two weeks ago, all dining halls served the same menu choices to avoid a certain location being favored. Other COVID-19 precautions have been adopted. There is a line of student workers that are in the dining hall to help students pick out certain food choices and to help reduce person-toperson interactions. Dining hours have been extended from previous semesters to avoid crowding. Melissa Schumacher, assistant director dietician for dining services, described the difficult transition over the last few months. “We have both local and state guidelines that must be met, while feeding over 5,000 students daily, three
BY ROYAL SHRESTHA CONTRIBUTING WRITER
RYAN ASH THE DAILY ILLINI
A coronavirus test site worker organizes vials at the Illini Union on Sept. 30. Some students who have previously been infected by COVID-19 are now getting false positives from their tests.
False positives affect recovered
Precision testing detects virus in previously infected students BY ALIZA MAJID STAFF WRITER
Students who have previously contracted the coronavirus are facing issues when getting retested due to virus remnants in their system. Delaney Fayland, junior in AHS, contracted the virus earlier this summer in her hometown and recovered before returning to campus only to test positive once again a few weeks later. “I did a full quarantine at home and when I came to school I was told that I could still test positive for up to 90 days, but I tested negative like three or four times on campus,” Fayland said. “When we had a big spike here and started to go on the two-week quarantine that’s where I tested positive.” The COVID-19 test is highly sensitive and “can detect down to 500 cop-
ies per milliliter of SARSCoV-2 in the saliva,” according to Martin Burke, associate dean for research at the Carle Illinois College of Medicine. It’s unclear how many fa lse positives have occurred, but the University’s testing process has been able to control the spread of the virus due to its sensitivity. This precise testing detects the virus at its early stages and allows the University to lock down on individuals before they become infectious. “The idea there is that when you become infected, your viral load goes very high while you’re in your isolation and then it starts to come down,” Burke said. “But, there can be a window of time after the isolation where we can still detect it in the saliva because it’s so sensitive, but that doesn’t mean you’re infectious.”
Students who are having issues with these inconclusive positive tests work with Dr. Robert Parker from the McKinley Health Center and the ChampaignUrbana Public Health District on a case-by-case basis to ensure they aren’t showing symptoms. “If you have a test after isolation and your viral load still is very high, then Dr. Parker works with those individuals and helps make sure that they don’t go out and affect other people. That’s why we still test to make sure that the viral load is in a safe range,” Burke said. Fayland had to contact her primary care physician at home to prove she had previously tested positive and didn’t have the virus again. During the verification process, Fayland had to quarantine in her apartment for more than a week until her results from home
University finds 48 new COVID cases on Monday
alizam2@dailyillini.com
More students utilize Computer-Based Testing Facility services for exams
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
As many courses have shifted online amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a sudden emphasis on virtual proctoring. As such, the Computer-Based Testing Facility (CBTF) has been forced into the limelight, as it handles all traffic that goes into the auto-grader and now proctors nearly 6,000 exams per week this semester, CBTF Manager Carleen Sacris said. This semester, 150 classes are using the CBTF, about four times more classes than the Fall 2019 semester, and three and a half times last semester’s total. The CBTF isn’t handling any in-person exams this semester due to the reduced capacity as a result of safety and health guidelines. CBTF Online uses human proctoring via Zoom for exams on PrairieLearn, Gradescope and other similar platforms. Students make reservations for their exams through the CBTF Scheduler, check in a few minutes before the exam and use the Zoom link provided on a separate device, which acts as a document camera, monitoring their workspace. The students’s behavior during exams is monitored, and any “suspicious behavior” that may indicate cheating is followed up on. “If we determine that something is suspicious, we usually take a few exam days to observe the students,” Sacris said. “So, once we note that something is not quite right, then we note it down and then we follow the students over the course of the semester to see if it really is intentional
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Source: CBTF Manager Carleen Sacris CASSIDY BRANDT THE DAILY ILLINI
or if there is something malicious about it.” Clear violations, like a student’s notes being visible on-screen while he or she is taking a test, are dealt with through the process specified in the student code in the Faculty Academic Integrity Report. As of Oct. 1, 12,776 University students had registered for an online exam. More staff is being hired and trained to keep up with the demand for proctors, Sacris says. “My usual average staff is about 30 proctors, and now we’re trying to hire about 80 proctors,” Sacris said. Apart from supervising the exams and ensuring no unfair means are being used by students, proctors have also had to deal with technological issues, including when students are unable to join the Zoom meeting or if
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12,776 students made reservations or took an exam as of Oct. 1, 2020
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their connection gets cut off mid-exam. “Those are the sort of things that we are trying to support the students in,” Sacris said. “We’re just not as quick to jump to conclusions, because if they say that, ‘well, I have an internet connection problem,’ there’s really no way for us to not believe them, we have to give them the benefit of the doubt.” Students have been excused in the case there has been a roommate in the background to accommodate students who have to stay in their dorms due to COVID-19 regulations, as long as they weren’t conversing with each other. To better educate students about the system, the CBTF website has articles and pictures depicting how to position the camera to properly show the workspace. Step-bystep instructions are also giv-
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en to sign in to Zoom using the Single Sign-On (SSO). “We also have office hours that are really designed for them to go in, practice their camera angle, ask proctors any questions that they have and get settled in the logistics of taking the exam,” Sacris said. “We even encourage students who have not given an exam yet to try to join the Zoom call from their phone for practice.” Students who receive help through Disability Resources and Education Services are also given time extensions and are recommended to be seated in an area with minimum distractions to accommodate their needs. “We are here for the students,” Sacris said. “We are very deliberate in our hiring (of proctors) and are open to any feedback.”
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NEWS EDITOR
Another 48 new people tested positive for COVID-19 on campus on Monday, bringing the University to another unforeseen benchmark: more than 2,500 cases since students began returning to campus in mid-August. There is a typical bump in new cases on Mondays and Tuesdays of every week, which modelers attribute to weekend spread of the virus at campus gatherings. Monday’s 48 cases is the most on a Monday since Sept. 7, back when the University was in its early lockdown stage after a big spike in cases. That week, 69 new people tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, Sept. 7 and another 81 did on Tuesday. This comes after an encouraging weekend, when University tests identified just 16 new cases from more than 8,200 tests on Saturday and Sunday. The singleday totals — nine new cases on Saturday and seven on Sunday — were the lowest all semester. Sunday’s single-day new case rate, 0.16%, was the lowest since Aug. 12, before the University ramped up its @esimmsnews testing efforts. ecsimmon@dailyillini.com
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Since classes began on Aug. 24, 2,245 people have tested positive for COVID-19 on campus, and 394,000 tests have been conducted in that span. Another 288 people tested positive between Aug. 15 and the beginning of the semester after 55,000 tests. These were most of the “imports” of students, faculty and staff who arrived on campus with the coronavirus. Over the summer, 87 individuals tested positive from almost 33,000 on-campus tests. In all, since the University’s testing program began on July 6, 2,620 people have tested positive for COVID-19 after 481,906 on-campus saliva tests. According to figures provided by University spokesperson Robin Kaler, 48,605 individuals have been tested since July 6, and 46,904 people have been tested since Aug. 15. Therefore, 5.4% of people who’ve ever taken a test on campus have tested positive for the coronavirus. According to Kaler, about 38,000 people are testing every week.
BY ETHAN SIMMONS
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Features: Bevier Cafe fights food insecurity
buzz: mxmtoon’s new EP signals selfempowerment
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were approved. “I got my results from my immediate care from home and I had to email them the results,” Fayland said. “(CUPHD) didn’t call me for like a few more days after that, and it was a really long process overall.” The University is currently working on finding an efficient process for the post-positive testing program to track these cases and deal with them accordingly. “I think it is really important to point out that we’re about to enter a very challenging time. It’s getting KEVIN GAO THE DAILY ILLINI cold, the weather is going Prepackaged meals wait to be picked up by students at the to be bad and the flu sea- SDRP on Friday. All dining halls are now offering in-person son is coming,” Burke said. dining. “We don’t have a vaccine for COVID-19 right now, but we do have a flu vaccine. We’re trying to encourage everybody to get their flu shot done.”
Online exam overflow creates demand for proctors BY PAYAL RATHORE
Since Sept. 20, students with on-campus meal plans have been allowed to participate in limited in-person dining at all dining locations. For some dining halls, such Pennsylvania Avenue Residence Hall, 25% of the normal seating will be offered, with tables spread more than six feet apart. The typical carry-out and express options for meals are still available. Halls like Illinois Street Residence are offering a wider variety of meal options with international
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