BREAKING NEWS: Rock Island County Health Department released alarming new numbers for covid-19 cases today. According to the department, “Due to a 46.94% increase in the number of positive COVID-19 cases over the last seven days, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now reports Rock Island County as having a substantial level of transmission of coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 disease. The county’s positivity rate also increased 2.59% to 6.82% over the last seven days. The number of hospital admissions also increased 50%. The CDC determines the level of transmission by... Read More

In a message from Western Illinois President Guiyou Huang, he mentions that WIU students and staff are expected to be vaccinated against covid going into the fall semester. His message in full, released yesterday, reads: Dear University Community, As we prepare to resume the traditional in-person experience this fall at Western Illinois University, to further safeguard the members of our WIU family (and beyond), we expect members of our University community to get their COVID-19 vaccine prior to the start of the semester, which begins August 23. Getting vaccinated will help our communities mitigate... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL – As the “to mask or not to mask” debate rages on amidst the ongoing pandemic Western Illinois University Law Enforcement and Justice Administration (LEJA) Professor Dean Alexander, who also leads WIU’s Homeland Security Research Program, and LEJA Professor Christopher Bitner have researched the challenges of mask enforcement. Their work was recently published in the June issue of Security magazine. In May 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a significant change in its COVID-19 mask mandated policy. Namely, the CDC stated that... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL – Western Illinois University-Macomb COVID-19 summer test clinics will be held from 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, through Thursday, Aug. 12, in the University Union Sandburg Lounge. Fall 2021 test clinic times and days will be announced prior to the start of the fall semester, which is set to begin Monday, Aug. 23. WIU-Macomb faculty, staff and students will have the SHIELD Illinois fast-turnaround saliva-based COVID-19 tests created by the University of Illinois available. The SHIELD test requires individuals to deposit a small amount of saliva in a vial,... Read More

On June 14, when “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” returned to live audiences at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New Work City, everyone attending had to prove they were fully vaccinated against Covid. Same when Bruce Springsteen returned to Broadway on June 26. More than 500 U.S. colleges and universities also are requiring proof of Covid vaccination for students to return to campus this fall, but that number does not include any school yet in the Quad-Cities. St. Ambrose University in Davenport is strongly recommending that all students, faculty, and staff be vaccinated for the Covid-19 virus,... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL – Western Illinois University-Macomb COVID-19 summer test clinics will be held from 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, through Thursday, Aug. 12, in the University Union Sandburg Lounge. Fall 2021 test clinic times and days will be announced prior to the start of the fall semester, which is set to begin Monday, Aug. 23. WIU-Macomb faculty, staff and students will have the SHIELD Illinois fast-turnaround saliva-based COVID-19 tests created by the University of Illinois available. The SHIELD test requires individuals to deposit a small amount of saliva in a vial,... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL – Western Illinois University-Macomb COVID-19 summer test clinics will be held from 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, through Thursday, Aug. 12, in the University Union Sandburg Lounge. Fall 2021 test clinic times and days will be announced prior to the start of the fall semester, which is set to begin Monday, Aug. 23. WIU-Macomb faculty, staff and students will have the SHIELD Illinois fast-turnaround saliva-based COVID-19 tests created by the University of Illinois available. The SHIELD test requires individuals to deposit a small amount of saliva in a vial,... Read More

There’s been fantastic news in regard to covid cases in Illinois and the Quad-Cities! Yesterday, we reported that Genesis Health Systems was reporting no hospitalizations from covid. Today, the Rock Island County Health Department reports no new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases remains at 14,998. Currently, there are no patients hospitalized in the county with the virus. The total number of deaths remains at 333. “We are happy there are no new cases to report today,” said Nita Ludwig, administrator of the Rock Island County Health Department. “We feel that our vaccination... Read More

Good news on the Quad-Cities covid front! This morning for the first time in 466 days, Genesis Health System has no COVID-19 positive patients hospitalized. The last time Genesis hospitals did not have a COVID-positive patient was March 13, 2020, when Genesis had its first positive patient hospitalized. Since everyone hospitalized with any condition is tested, there may be Patients Under Investigation (PUI) in the hospital, but there are no COVID-19 patients who have tested positive this morning. More great news; the symptomatic 7-day positive rate has dipped to less than one percent at 0.95%,... Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL – Western Illinois University-Macomb COVID-19 summer test clinics will be held from 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, through Thursday, Aug. 12, in the University Union Sandburg Lounge. Fall 2021 test clinic times and days will be announced prior to the start of the fall semester, which is set to begin Monday, Aug. 23. WIU-Macomb faculty, staff and students will have the SHIELD Illinois fast-turnaround saliva-based COVID-19 tests created by the University of Illinois available. The SHIELD test requires individuals to deposit a small amount of saliva in a vial,... Read More