A new variant of COVID-19 was discovered in the Chicago area of Illinois; while school health officials say the variant hasnât heavily impacted our area, they warned of the possible consequences if students donât remain vigilant.Â
Jerry Kruse, medical doctor and dean and provost of the SIU School of Medicine, said that even though Illinois has moved into less restrictive mitigations, this new variant means residents shouldnât ease up on pandemic protocol.Â
âThe issue with the new variants is that oftentimes, theyâre more infectious than the other ones, and that means that the average number of people who can be infected by one person might be a little bit higher,â Kruse said. âAnd so the message weâre getting out is to not let our guard down ⦠weâve moved back to a more liberal either tier or phase by the State of Illinois, and that kind of encourages people to get together or drop their guard down on their preventative measur
SIUE held a virtual town hall meeting to discuss mandatory re-entry testing and campus procedures for the Spring 2021 semester. A new dashboard will replace the old COVID Dashboard on