Even with two COVID-19 vaccines now approved for emergency use, UVA researchers are still working hard to find new treatments for the virus. Dr. Linda Duska, associate dean for clinical research at the School of Medicine, and other medical experts have coordinated a full-scale approach to finding COVID-19 therapies as safely as possible through several clinical trials.
(Commentary) UVA’s latest analysis of statewide data reveals that the post-Thanksgiving surge is likely to push the projected peak in weekly cases to 98,000 during the first week in February. That’s 13 times higher than this past summer’s peak of 7,550 cases. If this happens, we’ll no longer be talking about a “third wave” of COVID-19; we’ll be facing a tsunami of infections that will overwhelm our state’s hospitals and cause misery and grief throughout the commonwealth.
(Editorial) On Oct. 21, UVA’s Biocomplexity Institute projected 8,394 new COVID-19 cases in the state for the week ending Nov. 22. This predicted surge, about 1,400 new cases a day, seemed excessive at the time. After all, at the summer’s peak, the virus was infecting a few more than 1,000 a day. Today, 1,400 new cases would seem like a very good day indeed.
(Editorial) The consequences of not following COVID-19 precautions are reflected in a new model released this past Friday by UVA’s Biocomplexity Institute. Its projections foretell an even tougher test into the new year.
There’s now a way to track the risk of contracting COVID-19 based on where you are and how many people you’re around. A group of UVA data scientists are launching a new app that shows you the likelihood that someone at an event is unknowingly contagious with COVID-19.
A report released Dec. 18 on a University of Virginia COVID-19 model said the post-Thanksgiving surge led to a substantial spike in virus projections. The new estimated peak, according to the model, would occur the week of Feb. 8 with 14,000 new cases per day – nearly 14 times the summer’s peak of 1,079 daily cases and almost four times the current average of 3,564 new cases per day.
Now nasal swab tests are coming back consistently above 10% in Virginia communities, indicating the virus is becoming so prevalent, some cases are probably being missed, according to an analysis by UVA’s Biocomplexity Institute on Dec. 25.
George Will recommends ‘The Living Presidency,’ by Saikrishna Bangalore Prakash. “Prakash, a professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, argues that the public would be less susceptible to extravagant expectations, and presidents would be more successful because they would be less vulnerable to the public’s disappointments, if a president would reverse the ‘creeping constitutional coup’ that has subverted the idea of ‘an executive subject to the Constitution and the law.’”
(Commentary) A recent report from the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Virginia describes how Los Pinares filed accusations against a total of 32 individuals after communities set up a peaceful encampment to protect their water from the company’s mining project, which lasted 87 days in 2018. Violence carried out at this time by security guards hired by the mine in collaboration with armed agents from the local municipality who are also linked to the company and that led to the injury of one of the protesters has never been investigated.
November marked the launch of Management and Business Review, a new journal that aims to bridge management practice, education and research. MBR will emphasize academic research conducted in real organizational settings and tied to concrete management practices. MBR is sponsored by 11 business schools, including UVA’s Darden School of Business.
Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management (Coursera): This course covers project management tools, techniques, and processes for project planning, risk management, and project execution. The last week includes a discussion of alternative project execution methods such as Agile and Scrum. Cost: Free; $59 to access assignments and receive a certificate. Offered by: The University of Virginia.
Charlottesville, home to the University of Virginia, is the best educated metro area in Virginia and one of the best educated nationwide. Of all adults in the metro area, 49.2% have a bachelor’s degree or higher, well above the 39.6% share of adults in Virginia and the 33.1% of adults nationwide.
Devon Henry’s Virginia construction company completed over 350 projects in 2020. But one, he said, was the most meaningful by far. Team Henry Enterprises was the general contractor handling the recently completed Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia, a tribute to the people whose work building and maintaining the school founded by Thomas Jefferson had long gone unrecognized.
University of Virginia (public): $120 million from the Quantitative Foundation, a private charity associated with the married couple Jaffray and Merrill Woodriff. The gift supported the launch of a school of data science. Announced in 2019.
Online U has just released its rankings of the best online bachelor’s degrees for return on investment. The No. 1-rated college is the University of Virginia.
(Commentary) By creating or expanding programs that address skills gaps and target emerging opportunities, colleges and universities can ensure Virginians are positioned for success. Examples include George Mason University’s and James Madison University’s programs in cybersecurity; the University of Virginia’s initiatives in data science; and Virginia Tech’s genomics sequencing center.
They developed new ways to teach classes and new medical tests and protocols. They redesigned classrooms, living quarters and dining facilities. And they did it all in a matter of months. It’s not like University of Virginia officials, staff, faculty and students had a choice. The changes were necessary due to the pandemic that began sickening and killing Americans in March.
Dr. Laurie Archbald-Pannone, UVA associate professor of medicine: No. March 12, 2020 was the last day I ate indoors at a restaurant. At the time, there was mild apprehension – but much changed that week. The COVID-19 pandemic altered many aspects of “normalcy,” and for me eating inside at a restaurant is one of those activities.
(Commentary by Jennifer L. Lawless, Commonwealth Professor of Politics, and Mary Kate Cary, adjunct professor of politics and a senior fellow at the Miller Center) Worried that 2021 could be filled with cringe-worthy political conversations around the virtual dinner table and, post-pandemic, in real life? The two of us – one a card-carrying liberal and the other a self-avowed conservative – just survived 13 weeks of hour-long political conversations, twice a week every week. And get this: We actually enjoyed it.
On the morning of Dec. 16, the threat of a Virginia snowstorm canceled school for 7-year-old Alain Bell. He instead spent the morning scribbling a scowling face in black marker onto his father’s newly vaccinated upper arm. “It was his idea,” Alain said over Zoom, pointing to his father, Dr. Taison Bell, 37, a critical care physician at UVA Health in Charlottesville. “I feel good that he’s not going to get sick.”