THE DAILY ILLINI
THURSDAY January 28, 2021
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 150 Issue 28
CU health district outpaces vaccine supply Public health expects four to six month vaccine rollout BY AMRITA BHATTACHARYYA STAFF WRITER
As the news broke that there is no federal stockpile of COVID-19 vaccines as previously stated by the federal government, some states scrambled after learning that their supply would lessen. However, Champaign County has not yet felt the effects. “We have not seen an impact locally out here because we still are receiving vaccines from the state, and the state has committed to providing us a minimum number of vaccines every week,” said Awais Vaid, deputy administrator of the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District. “So, that number has not changed since the news came out.” The amount of vaccines received is allocated according to population size, with Champaign County receiving a minimum of 4,000 to 6,000 vaccines per week. According to Vaid, C-U
has the capacity to administer 20,000 vaccine doses a week. At full supply, CUPHD could vaccinate almost the entire community within four to six weeks. However, with the current number of doses that Champaign County is receiving, Vaid says it will take around four to six months. “The question out here is not if we can get them vaccinated, it’s can we get the vaccines,” Vaid said. The CUPHD typically gets vaccine allocations every Monday or Tuesday for the following week, giving them a little less than a week to plan their vaccine distributions. According to Vaid, there is no “set formula” to decide the number of vaccines each vaccination clinic gets from the CUPHD. Rather, the amount given depends on the provider’s capacity to administer vaccines, as well as how many CUPHD receives in the first place.
The CUPHD has been working in partnership with Carle Health, OSF HealthCare, Christie Clinic, Promise Healthcare and the University to administer vaccines. “OSF HealthCare continues to collaborate with local health departments within the mass vaccination plan. As we receive doses to administer from the state and/or county, we will make sure those who are outlined to receive the vaccine do,” Shelli Dankoff, media relations supervisor for OSF HealthCare, wrote in an email. As of Jan. 25, 1.35% of the vaccine eligible population in Champaign County has been fully vaccinated. After the current vaccine Phase 1B is completed, people aged 16 to 64 years old with underlying health conditions will be able to get vaccinated. abhatt52@dailyillini.com
RYAN ASH THE DAILY ILLINI
A Champaign County resident receives the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Jan. 12 at the I-Hotel. Champaign County is currently receiving a minimum of 4,000 to 6,000 vaccines per week.
RSO demands change after hundreds of bird deaths Wildlife Society petitions for birdsafe campus architecture
BY MATT TROHER STAFF WRITER
RYAN ASH THE DAILY ILLINI
A masked student walks down a diagonal pathway on the Main Quad on Wednesday morning. Many Illinois students wrestled with the decision to return to campus this semester.
Should I stay or should I go? Freshmen mull second semester returns
BY VIVIAN LA STAFF WRITER
As the spring semester begins, freshmen students are making decisions about being on campus or choosing remote learning after starting college in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Decisions included moving on campus for spring after staying home for fall, choosing all remote learning or returning home after being here for fall. Nadya Widjaja, freshman in Engineering, stayed home in Jakarta, Indonesia, in the fall but decided
to come on campus for the new semester. “It feels amazing to be on campus,” she said. “Although I’ve only been here three days, I have met a few of my friends, safely of course, and everyone is just so welcoming.” Widjaja’s main reason for moving now was the challenging 13-hour time difference between Jakarta and Champaign-Urbana for online learning. Having a class at 3 a.m. isn’t at all productive and affected sleeping and eating, she said. Widjaja didn’t come for fall because the U.S. Embassy closed a nd her student visa wasn’t processed. Other students chose to come to campus this semester because of University changes to housing policies.
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Features: Students and alumnus earn Grammy nomination
Sports: Hamish Carter starts 2021 season strong
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The change stated that students still need to fulfill the requirement of living on campus. Everyone is encouraged to live on campus given the success of the fall semester, the housing website states. Students have “two options to choose from, live on campus this spring or live on campus next year,” the webpage states. Younis Noora ldeen, freshman in LAS, said he would have to live in University Housing his sophomore year if he didn’t move on campus this semester. It was the deciding factor for him, but he probably would’ve still come if the policy wasn’t changed, he said. “I thought it would be really boring but now I’m on campus I just see that it’s a lot more fun than I thought it would be,” Nooraldeen said. Nooraldeen stayed home in Naperville, Illinois for the fall because he believed being on campus with all the restrictions wouldn’t be the full college experience. COVID-19 was also a concern but he said he feels safer on campus these days with the frequent testing and safety precautions. Madhu Vakkadala, freshman in Engineering, also moved on campus from Dallas, Texas after hearing the policy change. She would’ve stayed home for SEE STAY | 3A
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Earlier this year, Emmarie Alexander, junior in ACES, sat at her desk in her room in her second-floor apartment, taking one of her Zoom classes. Alexander was startled by a loud noise, quickly turning her attention away from her class. She investigated the noise and realized a bird had collided with her window, now laid on the ground below. Alexander has a passion for animals; she’s an animal science major and is the president of the University’s chapter of The Wildlife Society — a national organization dedicated to environmental stewardship and education. She brought up the incident with the bird and the window at a Wildlife Society meeting and learned about a group of graduate students who were surveying the amount of bird-window collisions on campus. The bird that hit Alexander’s window was not an isolated incident, but rather indicative of a larger phenomenon across campus. According to the survey, during the course of two three-week periods at the height of fall migration, more than 450 birds had died from colliding with
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Alec Luro, doctoral candidate in LAS, studies bird color and vision. Luro, along with Sarai Stuart and Rachel Skinner, both graduate students in LAS, led the campus bird window strike survey. As of November, the survey has found 489 birds that died due to building collisions on campus. “(Birds have) evolved over millions and millions of years, but they never had to deal with glass before,” Luro said. “If you think about (the) Beckman Institute, where the windows are mirrored, they’re seeing trees. They’re not seeing a window, something to avoid, they’re seeing images of things they’d normally fly to.” Beck ma n Instit ute, with its mirrored windows stationed behind a line of trees, has been the site of a startling number of bird collisions on campus. According to the bird window strike survey, 159 of the identified birds died after colliding with Beckman. Other buildings that have been the major causes of bird death include Temple Hoyne Buell Hall with 43 recorded bird deaths, the Electrical and Computer Engineering Building with 37 bird deaths, and the Business Instructional Facility with 29 recorded bird deaths. Each building features extensive glass facades. Part of the reason why so many birds collide with buildings on campus is due
“They’re not seeing a window, something to avoid; they’re seeing images of things they’d normally fly to.” ALEC LURO DOCTORAL CANDIDATE IN LAS
385 signatures. The cost of implementing these measures is unclear and would vary depending on the size of the building and the method chosen to retrofit existing buildings. The Wildlife Society has also reached out to the Illinois Student Government and the Student Sustainability Committee to help gain support for their cause. Additionally, the Purdue University chapter of the Wildlife Society has reached out to the Illinois chapter to ask for help campaigning the Purdue campus to implement bird-safe architecture policies.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WILDLIFE SOCIETY UIUC
The Wildlife Society UIUC student chapter Vice President Izabelle Jaquet (left) and chapter President Emmarie Alexander (right) participate in the bird collection survey.
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buildings on campus. To help combat this issue, the Wildlife Society has begun petitioning the University of Illinois System Board of Trustees to adopt bird-safe building measures. These measures include requiring all new buildings to feature glass that matches the standards of the American Bird Conservancy and to retrofit existing buildings to be bird-friendly. As of Jan. 26, the petition has
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