Audio
NEWS20221010_PoliceJurisdiction_CC
10/10/2022
Emily Richie / Madison Holcomb (ed.) / Chris Evans
The University of Illinois and Champaign Police Departments have made changes regarding who responds to calls in Campustown and the greater Champaign area.
University of Illinois’ Police Chief Alice Cary says University police will now be the primary responders to calls on Green Street near the university.
Before, this area was patrolled primarily by Champaign police.
She says the changes will allow resources to be used more efficiently.
AUD: 08 NEWS20221010_PoliceJurisdiction_CC OC: “...effect.”
“In our substation there on Green street, so we’ll have police officers out, there are community service officers, and then our security guards so there is kind of a layered effect.”
Cary says the changes should bring heightened safety to the area.
NEWS20221025_MaskRecommendation_CC 10/25/2022
Emily Richie / Madison Holcomb (ed.) / Chris Evans
A local health official says that frequent changes in the state’s COVID-19 recommendations are causing confusion and mixed feelings about masking among the public.
Illinois released a new COVID-19 executive order about a week ago recommending but not requiring masks for all individuals, not just unvaccinated people.
Brandon Meline [Mel-EEN] of the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District says this announcement comes after much back and forth between federal and state agencies over mask mandates.
AUD: 10 NEWS20221025_MaskRecommendation_CC OC: “...population.”
“We’ve started to see some decrease in COVID cases, and the new bivalent vaccine is here, so we know there is a lot of vaccine and mask fatigue in the population.”
He says the health department has not yet decided whether to issue its own, new recommendation regarding masks in Champaign-Urbana.
NEWS20221108_TripledemicTest_CC
11/08/2022
Emily Richie / Madison Holcomb (ed.) / Chris Evans
Scholars at the University of Illinois say they’ve developed a new test that can check for the presence of three viruses causing concern this year: COVID-19. Respiratory Syncytial [sin-SIH-shull] Virus and the flu.
Medical professionals say they are preparing for the possibility of a “tripledemic.”
But David Clark, C-E-O of the University of Illinois’ COVID-19 testing program, SHIELD, says the U of I’s new test offers a simple way to check for all three viruses at once.
AUD: 15 NEWS20221108_TripledemicTest_CC OC: “...flu.”
“It tests the same single saliva-based sample for three conditions and so we run the test once to see if that sample has exposure to COVID and then we run it again to see if there is exposure to RSV or the flu.”
Clark says his team has not yet determined how the tests will be distributed to the public.
