The Daily Tar Heel

Serving the students and the University community since 1893

Saturday June 10th

2020 Coronavirus Outbreak


UNC fans rush Franklin Street after UNC's basketball team triumphs over Duke despite COVID-19 restrictions on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021.

Town and University look to avoid Franklin Street rush after Saturday's UNC-Duke game

In an email, Victoria Hudson, the Orange County Director of Environmental Health, said she was unaware of any community spread impacts from the February rush — however, she wrote, this is not an excuse to lose vigilance. “Community transmission and vaccination trends are moving in the right direction,” Hudson wrote. “The recent Executive Order eased some restrictions on businesses. We have to stay vigilant to eliminate any actions that could lead to negative impacts at this time.”

Read More »

‘I’ve been waiting for an opportunity’: Triangle Immigrants feel left out of vaccine process

Research from the Center for American Progress shows undocumented immigrants are more likely to work essential jobs in the United States, with an estimated 5 million of them in the workforce.  Katherine Ward, a community organizer for Refugee Community Partnership, said vaccinating immigrants is especially important because they have fewer opportunities to receive federal or state aid if they were to lose their jobs or stop working due to the virus.  “It is my hope and my prayer that (the vaccine) will make a difference in the lives and homes and the neighborhoods where immigrants and refugees live,”  Edgar Vergara, a pastor in Durham who oversees La Semilla, said.  

Read More »

National Archives (photo no. 286-MP-par-00334). Department of State. Agency for International Development. 1961-10/1/1979. Photo courtesy of UNC Media Hub. 

Living with a pandemic: Polio in the 1940s

For polio survivors, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is not the first infectious disease to upend their lives. Now, decades after polio ripped through North Carolina and the world, medical experts and researchers at UNC are looking to this past disease outbreak to give context to a modern one. 

Read More »

Students sit on the steps in front of South Building on Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021.

UNC works to balance its budget with cuts to operating and personnel funds

UNC has announced its plans to achieve a balanced budget and resolve a deficit by the end of June 2022.  To achieve that, Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said that the University will cut operation funds by 7.5 percent and personnel funds by 1.5 percent in both this fiscal year and the next. The implementation of these cuts is expected to begin in late February or early March, Guskiewicz said. But the details of what exactly will be cut is still unknown to the public.

Read More »

Cary resident Neelima Singh receives the first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021 in the Friday Center.

Cooper says N.C. will increase COVID-19 vaccine supply as waitlist numbers surge

Ever since the COVID-19 vaccine became available to states, supply has been a concern. Mandy Cohen, secretary of N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, said at a press conference Tuesday that the Biden administration approved a five-percent increase in vaccine doses to the state. She said it is undetermined how many additional doses that would add up to. “We know there’s still not enough vaccine supply to vaccinate the millions of people who need it,” Gov. Roy Cooper said during the conference. “We’re pushing for more.”

Read More »

DTH Photo Illustration. Students scroll through "Where Y'all Goin'", a student run Instagram account exposing UNC students violating COVID protocols.

Where'd Y'all Go? Viral watchdog Instagram account deleted after threats

“I think this account was the first time that students were seeing, ‘Oh, people are watching,’” UNC senior Molly Cummings said. “I think the students that don't care, simply don't care. I don't think their actions are going to change unless the University does something, so with the account being gone, I don't know that things will change unless the University starts taking action.”

Read More »

Dr. Mark Heise poses for a portrait in his lab inside the Burnett-Womack building on Monday, Feb. 8, 2021. Heise is a a professor of microbiology, immunology and genetics in the UNC School of Medicine and a collaborator of READDI.

UNC-based drug development program aims to be 'readdi' for future pandemics

“We can not forget this experience,” John Bamforth, interim director of READDI, said. “It will be very tempting to put it behind us and think we do not have anything to worry about. The reality is, we are not 100 percent sure why these viruses are occurring more and more frequently. The global community needs to continue thinking about how we can encourage developing pandemic preparedness.” 

Read More »