University System News:
WSB Radio
90 positives in first round of spring semester testing
By Tim Bryant
The University of Georgia says it has expanded its surveillance testing capacity as students, faculty, and staff continue the spring semester classes that started last week. UGA says results of the first week of testing with students back on campus show modest improvement over the previous week. Just over 29 hundred COVID tests were administered at the Legion Field surveillance site and at pop-up locations elsewhere on campus. Of those, 90 were positive, with a positivity rate of 3.1 percent. That is down from 3.8 percent the week before classes began.
WJBF
Post-COVID-19 syndrome poses new risks after recovery
By: Chloe Salsameda
Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia are hard at work studying the long-term effects of COVID-19. Patients are arriving at Augusta University Health with a variety of illnesses after recovering from the virus. Illnesses vary — from mild symptoms, such as fatigue, coughing, or loss of taste and smell, to severe symptoms, such as blood clots and organ damage. “It probably happens somewhere in the range of 10 percent of individuals, maybe a little bit more, depending on how severe their course with COVID-19 was,” Dr. Rodger MacArthur, an infectious diseases expert at the Medical College of Georgia, said. Not everyone will battle one of these illnesses. MacArthur says young people and those without underlying health conditions are less at risk. Augusta University is now working to form a Post-COVID-19 clinic to treat patients battling these various illnesses. However, they are running into some challenges.
WSB-TV
Member of Biden transition team says efforts to ramp up COVID-19 vaccine distribution will work
By Matt Johnson
During an afternoon news conference Thursday, President Joe Biden was very blunt saying it’s going to take months to get the majority of Americans vaccinated against COVID-19 It’s been a slow process, but Channel 2′s Matt Johnson got some insight about how things could really ramp up now that a new administration is in place. Jose Cordero is a University of Georgia professor who also served on Biden’s transition team as an expert in vaccine distribution. “It’s an extremely complex process to get the vaccine to everyone,” Cordero told Johnson. He says one thing that needed improvement was cooperation between states and the federal government.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
University of Georgia relaunching Latino recruitment effort
By Eric Stirgus
University of Georgia officials announced a plan Thursday to recruit more Latino and Hispanic students. The university’s Presidential Task Force on Race, Ethnicity, and Community has provided $30,000 to reestablish a program that began a few years ago aimed at increasing representation among a group that is growing in population statewide, but underrepresented on campus.
Growing Georgia
A Week for ABAC Scheduled February 18-25
In the 50th version of the annual scholarship fundraiser called Dollars for Scholars and An Evening for ABAC, Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College is traveling a different path in A Week for ABAC on Feb. 18-25. “This year, since we cannot safely schedule an in-person event, we will be hosting a week-long electronic auction and donation appeal to support funding for ABAC student scholarships,” Arts Connection Director Wayne Jones, who coordinates the event for the ABAC Foundation, said. …ABAC Chief Development Officer Deidre Martin said one focal point of A Week for ABAC will be ABAC’s 113th birthday on Feb. 20.
Americus Times Recorder
Michael Lewis, longtime GSW Public Safety officer, named new director
By Ken Gustafson
Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) recently named veteran GSW campus police officer Michael Lewis as the new director of the Office of Public Safety. Lewis served as interim director following the retirement of Chief Mike Tracy in July 2020.
The Red & Black
Reflecting on the pioneers who desegregated UGA 60 years ago
Janelle Ward | Race Reporter
History was made on Jan. 6, 1961, when U.S. District Judge William Bootle ordered the University of Georgia to admit Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter, the first two Black students in UGA’s then 176-year history. In 2019, while the U.S. Census Bureau reported that Black people made up more than a third of the state’s population, just over 8% of the university’s student body was Black, according to the UGA Fact Book. In the aftermath racial justice protests and a historic election, the 60th anniversary of the desegregation at UGA is a reminder of how far the university has come, and how much progress still remains.
Cision
Bachelor’s Degree Center Releases National Rankings of Biology Degree Programs
Bachelor’s Degree Center (https://www.bachelorsdegreecenter.org/), a free guide to traditional and online bachelor’s degree programs in all disciplines, has released four rankings of the best bachelor’s in biology degree programs in the US: …Bachelor’s Degree Center has been providing advice, resources, and rankings on the best traditional and online bachelor’s degree programs since 2014. Completely independent and unbiased, BDC is working to be the ultimate resource for new high school graduates, working adults returning to school, and nontraditional students. All Institutions in the Bachelor’s Degree Center Biology Degree Rankings (in alphabetical order) Georgia Institute of Technology; University of West Georgia
Other News:
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Jan. 21)
An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state
CONFIRMED DEATHS: 11,511 | Deaths have been confirmed in all counties but one (Taliaferro). This figure does not include additional cases that the DPH reports as suspected COVID-19-related deaths. County is determined by the patient’s residence, when known, not by where they were treated.
CONFIRMED CASES: 701,308 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Georgia surpasses 700,000 coronavirus cases
By Tim Darnell
Georgia has recorded more than 700,000 confirmed coronavirus cases since the pandemic began, according to the latest figures released Thursday afternoon by the state Department of Public Health. The latest numbers include 701,308 cases, along with 11,511 deaths. On Wednesday, those numbers stood at 695,400 cases and 11,411 deaths. Over the last 24 hours, 5,969 more cases have been reported and 105 more deaths.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Kemp: Georgia needs more vaccine doses
By Eric Stirgus and J. Scott Trubey
The need to ramp up COVID-19 vaccinations in Georgia is taking on greater urgency amid the third wave of the virus and an increase of cases involving a more infectious strain of the disease. But Georgia already has been shipped almost all of the vaccine doses the state was allocated. A primary challenge now is that Georgia needs more, Gov. Brian Kemp and state health officials stressed Thursday. “We still have far more demand than supply,” Kemp said at a news conference at the state Capitol.
Atlanta Business Chronicle
How Atlanta’s history of public health leadership put the city on the front lines of COVID-19 vaccine research
By Grace Donnelly
The eyes of the nation have been on Atlanta since before COVID-19 even made its way into the United States. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began monitoring the virus in January and with the race to develop a vaccine underway, the National Institute of Health (NIH) also turned to the city, which is the home of the largest university-based vaccine research center in the world at Emory University.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Should governor expedite vaccines for Georgia teachers?
Get Schooled with Maureen Downey
In his recent State of the State address, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp had a lot of good things to say about teachers and their actions during the pandemic. “So many educators went the extra mile to help the children in their classroom who don’t have the best home life, or maybe it was to do whatever it took to make sure their kids had meals to last them through the day,” he said. Because “the great men and women running Georgia’s schools didn’t miss a beat,” Kemp announced a one-time educator bonus of $1,000. Here is what the governor didn’t announce: When teachers can expect vaccines, a step that could go a long way to calming the debate still raging over whether it’s safe to reopen buildings, a debate that has pitted teachers against parents at times.
Higher Education News:
Inside Higher Ed
Biden Orders Up More COVID Guidance for Colleges
President orders creation of more detailed guidance for colleges, with evidence-based recommendations “on how and when to open.”
By Elizabeth Redden
President Biden signed an executive order Thursday directing the secretary of education to provide, in consultation with the secretary of health and human services, “evidence-based guidance to institutions of higher education on safely reopening for in-person learning, which shall take into account considerations such as the institution’s setting, resources, and the population it serves.” The “Executive Order on Supporting the Reopening and Continuing Operation of Schools and Early Childhood Education Providers” was one of 10 orders signed by Biden in conjunction with the release of a new 200-page strategy from the White House on COVID-19 response. The strategy includes a goal of administering 100 million vaccines in Biden’s first 100 days in office and a plan to invoke the Defense Production Act to address supply gaps in production of vaccines, tests, personal protective equipment and other needed supplies.
Inside Higher Ed
S&P Issues 4th Straight Negative Outlook for U.S. Higher Ed
By Rick Seltzer
S&P Global Ratings is keeping in place a negative outlook on the U.S. not-for-profit higher education sector’s bond rating stability for the fourth straight year and also has a negative outlook for universities it rates outside the country. The ratings agency issued the outlook this week in an annual report on the higher education sector. Universities inside and outside the United States face short-term challenges because of COVID-19 that make enrollment, revenue, operating margins and recovery prospects uncertain, S&P determined.
Inside Higher Ed
A Long and Complicated Road Ahead
Improving how colleges respond to sexual assault on campus is one of President Biden’s top priorities. But it’s likely to be an uphill battle.
By Greta Anderson
Joe Biden entered the White House this week with high and wide-ranging expectations from higher education leaders, advocates for survivors of sexual violence and students for how his new administration will require colleges to handle and reduce sexual assault on college campuses. In addition to addressing the public health and economic consequences of the pandemic, supporting the ongoing movement for social justice and equity for Black Americans, and trying to unite a politically polarized population, President Biden has also promised to strengthen Title IX, the law prohibiting sex discrimination in federally funded institutions, which mandates how colleges should respond to student reports of sexual misconduct.
Inside Higher Ed
Biden Names Political Appointees to Ed Dept.
By Kery Murakami
The Biden administration Thursday night named Rich Williams, an expert in the problems faced by student loan borrowers at Pew Charitable Trusts, chief of staff of the Education Department’s Office of Postsecondary Education. The department also named Ben Miller, vice president for postsecondary education at the progressive Center for American Progress, as temporary senior adviser to Williams.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Biden extends pause on federal student loan payments
By Eric Stirgus,
President Joe Biden on Wednesday ordered the U.S. Department of Education to continue a freeze on collecting federal student loan payments and keeping the interest rate at 0%. The Trump administration ordered the changes shortly after the start of the coronavirus pandemic last March. The freeze was scheduled to expire at the end of January. “Too many Americans are struggling to pay for basic necessities and to provide for their families,” the department said in a statement. “They should not be forced to choose between paying their student loans and putting food on the table.”