University System News:

11Alive

Why are variants of the coronavirus more contagious?

Scientists are concerned about changes in the component of the virus that allows it to latch onto our cells.

Author: Jerry Carnes

Variants of the coronavirus are more contagious and could potentially lead to more severe illnesses, but why? It is not unusual for viruses to mutate. The main mission of any virus is to spread, and while mutations will often harm a virus, some changes will help a virus multiply. Changes to the coronavirus have created variants that are swifter and more determined. “It may make infection more efficient,” says Dr. Mark Tompkins of the University of Georgia’s Center for Vaccine and Immunology. Like an athlete building the muscles that are needed for their particular sport, viruses work on the components they need to spread faster than other viruses.  The variants of the coronavirus that most concern health care experts focus on the spike protein. That’s what the virus uses to latch onto our cells.

News Medical

New platform for detecting and monitoring SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses

By Dr. Liji Thomas, MD

Since the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic emerged in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, scientists have developed a range of tests to detect the presence of infection with its etiological agent, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Serology is likely to play a major role in understanding the epidemiology and history of the infection, and in disease surveillance. Researchers in the U.S. – based at the University of Georgia, Emory University, and Texas A&M University – have released a new study that describes a powerful but inexpensive tool designed to detect and monitor specific antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 over time. This could prove a boon to researchers in this field, enabling them to track antibody development to several viral proteins in multiple species and all kinds of sample types.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A third of Georgia adults reluctant to take vaccine, AJC poll finds

By Eric Stirgus, Brad Schrade, Helena Oliviero

Retired nurse Connie McDonald takes several precautions to protect herself from COVID-19. The Griffin resident, who is 70, said she and her husband wear masks when they go out. They wash their hands frequently. She takes vitamin C twice a day. Yet, like a significant percentage of Georgians, McDonald is in no hurry to get the COVID-19 vaccines. She said she worries about potential long-term harm from vaccines. …Meanwhile, Brandon Tomaskovich, who works as a maintenance assistant at an assisted living center in Holly Springs, already got his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and he’s set to get the second dose later this week. Tomaskovich, who is 20 and also a student at Kennesaw State University, said he was uncertain about getting the vaccine until he talked to a doctor about it. “She answered my questions, assured me there was no live virus and wouldn’t cause my body harm,” Tomaskovich said. “It definitely put me at ease.”

Albany Herald

Fort Valley TV/radio manager named to Black Radio Hall of Fame

From staff reports

Fort Valley State University’s television/radio station manager Shirley Ellis is being inducted into the National Black Radio Hall of Fame. Ellis has a lengthy career as a respected broadcaster who is known to central Georgia radio listeners as Mama Mia. Ellis called her induction one of the most significant recognitions of her career. … Ellis is the force behind WFVS, FVSU’s radio station. After joining the university as its television station manager, she spearheaded the effort to launch the radio station. WFVS-96.9 is a 6,000-watt FM station that can be heard throughout the middle Georgia area.

Northwest Georgia News

Model High School grad killed Sunday afternoon in wreck on I-16

By Doug Walker

Students and staff at Model High School are mourning the death of 2020 graduate Bradley Coleman “Cole” Couey who died Sunday afternoon in a two vehicle wreck on I-16 near Swainsboro. According to the Georgia State Patrol: Couey was a passenger in a pickup truck driven by Jordan Hunter Thomas, 19 of Alto, who was also killed in the wreck. The teenagers were on their way back to classes at Georgia Southern University.

WRBL

Local professor awarded $25,000 grant

Sakura Gray

Columbus State University professor Dr. Anastasia Angelopoulou has been awarded a $25,000 grant from Epic Games. Dr. Angelopoulou received the mega-grant to help students create a game prototype for peer-to-peer energy trading markets.  The project’s goal is to introduce consumers to the concept of peer-to-peer trading. This is a new power system operations concept where households generate their own energy with renewable resources, then trade it locally.

South Pro Landscaper USA

GROUNDS SUPERINTENDENT PHILIP SCHRETTER CREATES A BOTANICAL PARADISE AT GEORGIA SOUTHERN-ARMSTRONG

Rather than put a garden in a corner of campus, Philip Schretter has transformed his entire university into an arboretum and botanical garden. For the past 28 years, the grounds superintendent has worked at Georgia Southern University-Armstrong Campus in Savannah. In that time he has created as much diversity as possible. His collection now includes 4,000 plants on the 80-acre campus. And he has never planted the same thing twice. …He credits his hardworking staff, Georgia’s coastal climate where the ground seldom freezes, along with his administration that has given him the liberty to be creative. The college campus, which doesn’t even have a horticulture program, has attracted students and faculty alike who are drawn to the plants. …The campus is open to the public, and Philip and his team regularly give tours to garden clubs and other interest group.

WSAV

Georgia Southern University included in national Campus Pride Index for LGBTQ+ inclusivity

by: Ashley Williams

Georgia Southern University is now one of only four universities in the Peach State to be listed on the national Campus Pride Index. Established in 2007, the index has served as a benchmarking tool for parents and prospective students researching the LGBTQ+ inclusivity of university campuses.

Growing America

Organic Practices to Increase Soybean Nutrients Could Benefit Farmers in Developing Countries

In developing countries, the sustainable production of nutrient-dense crops is a critical need. A team of University of Georgia researchers have identified an affordable and local organic practice that can increase nutrient density in soybeans, or edamame, and improve soil health. In a recently published journal article in Organic Agriculture, researchers described how they applied a local biological inoculum during crop growth to improve soil health and increase macronutrients and micronutrients in soybeans. Led by Associate Professor Dorcas Franklin, doctoral candidates Kishan Mahmud and Laura Ney worked on the study while earning their doctorates in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences in UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Other News:

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

U.K. variant infects 19 people from nine Ga. counties

By Johnny Edwards and Yamil Berard

If Georgians don’t mask up, super-spreader strain could prolong the pandemic, experts warn

The United Kingdom’s mutant strain of COVID-19 has already spread through metro Atlanta, threatening to unleash another surge of overfilled hospitals and deaths if Georgians don’t take precautions, state health officials warned Monday. The Georgia Department of Public Health has confirmed 19 people living in nine Georgia counties have been infected with the variant, with cases concentrated in the state’s core metropolitan counties and extending to the Alabama border. …Known as B.1.1.7, the new strain is believed to be far more contagious than the common SARS-CoV-2 virus and, according to British researchers, may also be 30% to 40% more deadly.

The Augusta Chronicle

White House report cites Augusta for high COVID-19 positive rate, patients in ICUs

Tom Corwin

A new White House report on COVID-19 highlights Augusta as an area of concern for a high positive test rate and a large number of pandemic patients in Intensive Care Units around the city. Augusta hospital leaders say they are seeing fewer patients in the hospital but the numbers remain high so people should not relax their preventive efforts.

WSB Radio

Johnson & Johnson results giving hope to people waiting for COVID-19 vaccines

By Matt Johnson

There’s good news coming out about another COVID-19 vaccine that is showing real promise in the fight against the virus. Johnson & Johnson said Friday its vaccine is 66% effective against the virus but you only need one dose. So far, nearly 900,000 Georgians have received at least one dose. More than 70,000 of those were reported just on Friday.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Map: Coronavirus deaths and cases in Georgia (updated Feb. 1)

An updated count of coronavirus deaths and cases reported across the state

CONFIRMED DEATHS: 12,613 | 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: 752,448 | Cases have been confirmed in every county.

Higher Education News:

Diverse Issues in Higher Education

Majority of Americans Want Standardized Testing Requirements Removed

by Arrman Kyaw

60% of Americans answered in a poll that U.S. higher ed should remove standardized test requirements, Yahoo Finance reported. Despite the majority of respondents saying such requirements should be done away with, 71% answered that they believe standardized testing to be an effective way to evaluate students. The poll – done by Yahoo Finance and The Harris Poll – surveyed 1,000 readers.

Inside Higher Ed

Fighting Vaccine Hesitancy and Misinformation

Academic medical institutions, including historically Black and Hispanic-serving institutions, address issues of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in their communities through research and outreach.

By Elizabeth Redden

Donald Alcendor, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Meharry Medical College, a historically Black medical school in Nashville, Tenn., is studying an antiviral treatment for COVID-19 in his lab. But his work isn’t confined to the lab: he’s also community liaison for Meharry’s Novavax vaccine trial. In that role he goes out to businesses, barbershops and beauty salons frequented by African Americans and Latinos to talk to community members about the COVID-19 vaccines and answer their questions in what he describes as a “transparent and culturally competent way.” …Academic medical institutions and public health schools, including minority-serving institutions like Meharry, are taking leading roles in confronting vaccine hesitancy in minority communities.

The Chronicle of Higher Education

Are Graduate Programs Pressing Pause — or Pulling the Plug?

Plans to temporarily suspend graduate admissions may backfire.

By Peter Brooks

One of the best undergraduates I have taught (I’ve been teaching for 50-plus years) is applying to graduate programs in English. As I began to advise her about where she might apply, I became aware of how opportunity has shrunk this year. So many universities — over 50, according to the latest Chronicle report — have “paused” graduate admissions in many or all departments in the humanities and social sciences. Others, including Yale, where I teach, have reduced admissions drastically. The Yale Graduate School, I was informed, will allow the English department only three graduate-student admittees for the fall of 2021. University administrations claim that they must pause or reduce graduate admissions so that they have the resources to support their current graduate students better and longer in a profession ravaged by Covid-19.

Inside Higher Ed

Study: College Football Concussions Happen Mostly During Practice

By Greta Anderson

Concussions among college football players occur more often at practice and during preseason training than during games, according to a new study of concussion and head impact exposure frequency published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association for Neurology.The study, which spanned five football seasons and analyzed 658 players, found that 72 percent of the nearly 50 diagnosed concussions occurred during practices. About 48 percent of concussions occurred during the preseason, though the period only made up about 20 percent of the total time researchers analyzed head injury occurrence, a brief report about the study said.