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COVID-19

NEWS 5/29/21 8:47am

Rice announces student vaccine requirement for fall semester

By Prayag Gordy

All members of the Rice community are expected to return in person for the fall and all students who come to campus are expected to be fully vaccinated before the fall semester, President David Leebron announced in an email Friday. Students who receive a medical or religious waiver must continue to test weekly and wear a mask indoors, according to the email.

FEATURES 4/27/21 10:39pm

Looking back and looking forward: lessons from the pandemic

By Nicole Lhuillier

The Rice community is eagerly anticipating a return to some kind of normal in the fall semester. Still, it’s clear that not everything will be the same as before the pandemic — but maybe for good reason. While the past year has been undeniably difficult, the Rice community can leave it with important takeaways. We asked administrators, faculty and student leaders what they have learned and what they envision for Rice when distancing, masking and virtual interactions are not the default procedures of the campus experience.

NEWS 4/23/21 3:56pm

Rice rescinds outdoor mask requirement, testing no longer required for fully vaccinated community members

By Hajera Naveed

Rice announced today that there will no longer be a mask requirement in outdoor spaces and that fully vaccinated individuals will not be required to take weekly COVID-19 tests, in an email sent to the Rice community by Kevin Kirby, chair of the Crisis Management Advisory Committee. The announcement follows the results of a community survey of vaccination status, which revealed that 74 percent of the Rice community members have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. 

NEWS 4/13/21 10:53pm

Low vaccine survey response rate impedes fall semester planning

By Bonnie Zhao

Only about half of the student body has filled out the vaccine survey sent out in the COVID-19 Response Weekly Update, and the non-satisfactory response rate is preventing the administration from planning for a fully in-person fall 2021 semester, according to Kevin Kirby, vice president of administration. 

FEATURES 3/30/21 10:03pm

A year into the pandemic, research goes on — but not without changes

By Nicole Lhuillier

sAfter doing a computational chemistry project remotely while campus access was limited last summer, Will Rice College junior Hallie Trial returned to campus lab work in August. At the Ball Lab, where she investigates the synthesis of boronic acids and water, Trial is masked, physically distanced from fellow researchers and, sometimes, reusing gloves — a practice not normally recommended, she said, but necessitated by pandemic shortages of personal protective equipment.

FEATURES 3/23/21 11:18pm

‘The only way out is to vaccinate ourselves out’: Students hustle to get COVID-19 vaccines

By Hadley Medlock

After Governor Greg Abbott lifted the state-wide mask mandate for Texas on March 10, getting a COVID vaccine has become more important than ever to many Rice students. An impromptu vaccine drive was held at Rice’s East Gym during the winter freeze a few weeks back, but only around 800 doses were available. Students ran across the icy campus and stood in 20-degree weather for hours to try and receive a vaccine, but there just weren’t enough for everyone. Because many were unable to get the vaccine during that time, Rice students have recently been scheming for other ways to get their hands — or arms — on a dose. 

FEATURES 3/16/21 10:57pm

‘It’s just brutal’: Two students reflect on losing loved ones to COVID-19

By Ella Feldman

Baker College sophomore Lily Sethre-Brink’s grandfather was named Willis, but she called him Grandpa Will. He was stern but witty, she said, and they would always make blueberry pie together. He did a mean Cookie Monster impression, and when Sethre-Brink was a little kid, she would pretend to fall asleep in his lap so that she could stay in his arms longer. And he always loved to hear her sing. 

FEATURES 3/16/21 10:03pm

A year of grief: Students share stories of severity of COVID-19 sinking in

By Ella Feldman

The past few weeks have been marked by harrowing anniversaries. Feb. 29 marked one year since Rice Crisis Management alerted the Rice community that a staff member had possibly been exposed to COVID-19 during overseas travel. March 3 was the anniversary of Rice canceling international travel over spring break and suspending all other foreign travel, and March 8 marked a year since classes, Beer Bike and other major events were initially canceled. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic.

OPINION 3/9/21 9:38pm

Second doses of the vaccine are coming soon. The Rice community should be prepared.

By Thresher Editorial Board

Last month, over 800 members of the Rice community received a surprise first dose of the Moderna vaccine, which was provided by the Harris County Public Health Department after a power outage caused vaccines to unexpectedly defrost. Individuals who were vaccinated on campus are slated to receive their second dose on March 22. It is imperative that students and administration adequately prepare for hundreds of Rice community members to receive their second doses in the coming weeks.

A&E 3/9/21 7:47pm

Pop culture that defined a year of COVID

By Melissa Carmona

A year ago in March 2020, no one was prepared for how life would change due to COVID-19. The average student likely had little idea of how their lives would likely be dominated by Zoom, social distancing and uncertainty. Now that we’re in March 2021, the past year seems incredibly monumental in the change it caused to human existence around the world. Here, I sum up some of the most noteworthy cultural happenings that defined our year in quarantine.  

NEWS 3/2/21 11:11pm

Rice cancels summer 2021 study abroad programs

By Megan Xiao

Rice plans to extend the suspension of study abroad programs into summer 2021 due to ongoing health and safety concerns as well as restrictions related to COVID-19, according to the Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman, in consultation with the Provost and Rice’s Crisis Management Advisory Committee. This includes the Rice in Country programs offered by the Center for Languages and Intercultural Communication, in-person study abroad programs from the Study Abroad Office and certain fellowships that require international study abroad from the Center for Civic Leadership.  

NEWS 2/16/21 11:08pm

Hundreds of students rush to get vaccinated after Rice receives last-minute vaccine doses

By Rynd Morgan

Rice students, staff and faculty dashed to the East Gym amidst the ongoing winter storm to claim one of the hundreds of Moderna vaccines administered on campus Monday afternoon. Harris County Public Health gave the vaccines — which would have otherwise gone to waste due to a power outage at their building — to Rice and other institutions that were already equipped to administer the vaccines. 810 vaccines were distributed to Rice’s campus, according to Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo.

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