News Room

Get ready for an especially cold autumn with subdued fall foliage, rotting pumpkins and wormy apples. Halloween just turned hollow and Thanksgiving turkey with gravy might taste especially bland, too. That’s what happens when a way of life disintegrates in the time it takes to say “aye” or whatever method the 14 presidents of Big Ten schools used on Tuesday in voting to cancel fall sports. (The Pac-12 followed suit soon after.)

The number of people flying on commercial jetliners is down 75% from last summer, but the rate of those getting caught either inadvertently or deliberately trying to bring a gun on board is soaring. Transportation Security Administration officers are finding guns in carry on bags at security checkpoints at a rate three times higher than they did last summer. And 80% of those guns are loaded.

It’s a scary statistic. CBS News reports that every 7 seconds, a worker gets hurt on the job. Pair that with a suggestion from classical economics that says safety regulations exist because organizations would not provide a safe workplace on their own volition. It’s an unsettling statement, but all too common.

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.