Thursday, March 4, 2021

Dear Parents and Family,

Your student received this earlier today.

Vaccine Update: The Science Behind the Vaccine

In this video, UI Health Care employees explain the science behind the COVID-19 vaccine, the research that led to a vaccine being developed so quickly, and how important it is to talk to your health care provider if you are questioning whether the vaccine is right for you.

Mental Health Resources: Managing Emotions

You may be experiencing many different emotions as we continue to manage the way our lives have changed nearly one year into the pandemic. These unique personal and professional challenges can make us feel more isolated and removed from the people and activities that previously provided us with support and respite.

The University Counseling Service has compiled an Emotional Tidbit video series as a resource to help you engage in self-exploration and build skills for managing these emotions as we make our way through another semester. Topics include helpful reminders, such as:

  • Happiness, confidence, and self-esteem are not goals, they are outcomes. If we do things to help meet our personal needs — like eating, sleeping, exercising, and keeping social relationships in a way that is comfortable for us — confidence, happiness, and self-esteem will result.
  • Reminding ourselves that bad feelings do not last forever helps us to stop, breathe, and allows those feelings to pass.
  • You are not your feelings. Feelings are something you have, not something you are.
  • You have skills. As you look at each hurdle before you, it’s important to remind yourself how far you’ve come.

The videos are available on the UCS YouTube channel at this link.

For more information about mental health resources, see mentalhealth.uiowa.edu.

For counseling and support, the Employee Assistance Program offers confidential counseling at no cost for UI employees and their families; or University Counseling Service offers confidential counseling and support for students. Participate in Kognito Mental Health & Suicide Prevention Training.

University of Iowa Self-Reported COVID-19 Testing

These data reflect new cases since March 3, 2021.

The University of Iowa has published an updated snapshot of self-reported positive COVID-19 tests from faculty, staff, and students.

Number of self-reported cases of COVID-19:

Students

  • New cases: 2
  • Total cases: 3,015

Employees

  • New cases: 2
  • Total cases: 447

These numbers reflect only self-reported positive or presumed positive COVID-19 tests from UI faculty, staff, and students on the academic campus since Aug. 18, 2020. These data will not match data reported by UI Hospitals & Clinics or by the Iowa Department of Public Health for several reasons, including different testing time intervals and geographic scope. Students who also are employees of the university are only reported in the student number to avoid double counting. The UI has more than 30,000 students and nearly 30,000 employees. Many employees continue to work remotely but have self-reported to authorize sick leave.

Number of residence hall students in quarantine: 0*

Number of residence hall students in self-isolation: 3**

*Quarantine: Quarantine is used to keep someone who might have been exposed to COVID-19 away from others.

**Self-isolation: Isolation is used to separate people infected with the virus (those who are symptomatic and those with no symptoms) from people who are not infected.