Media Coverage

A new study concludes that opening clinics dedicated specifically to treating influenza can limit the number of people infected and help to “flatten the curve,” or reduce the peak prevalence rate. While the work focused on influenza, the findings are relevant for policymakers seeking ways to reduce impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

A University of Illinois professor is warning of a possible “public health tsunami” as students return to campus in small and medium-sized university towns. Dr. Sheldon Jacobson is a professor of computer science. He said cities with higher education institutions such as DeKalb, Macomb, Charleston and Galesburg could get hit hard as students return to campus. “I would estimate based on the data I have seen that when students show up on campuses, somewhere between 2 and 7 percent of them are going to be testing positive,” Jacobson said.

The number of firearms confiscated at airports by the Transportation Security Administration tripled in July compared to a year ago even though air travel is a quarter of what it was last year at this time, the TSA reported Monday. TSA said its officers had detected 15.3 guns per million passengers last month compared with 5.1 guns last July – and that’s with air travel dropping 75% year on year.

We are now just a few weeks away from when college football is scheduled to begin. After an initial surge of infections to returning athletes in June, the number of new infections has been eerily low, with some schools even reporting none. Is this good news, a lack of testing, or a lack of transparency? 

Jacobson is a Founder Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He applies his expertise in risk assessment to evaluate and inform public policy. He served on the Virginia Tech faculty from 1993-1999. What do Virginia Tech, Old Dominion University, VCU, and James Madison University all have in common? According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, they are listed to have “primarily in person” education for the fall semester.