Movies
Sports DHS too much for Elk Grove
Pets Can this man avert World War II? — Page B2
— Page B5
Joey is looking for a new family — Page A3
enterprise THE DAVIS
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2022
Council votes unanimously to place DiSC on June ballot By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer
stantly present, but with predictable transmission rates that health systems can manage without being overburdened. On the other hand, face-to-face learning is returning just weeks after the highly-transmissible omicron variant swept through California campuses, straining campuses’ ability to separate infected students from the uninfected.
taught us that we can’t be complacent with this,” USC chief health officer Dr. Sarah Van Orman told CalMatters. Some California colleges are looking to increase isolation capacity and are updating masking policies to require surgical, KN95 or N95 masks indoors. Most say they will continue regularly testing students
Davis voters will see a new version of the Davis Innovation and Sustainability Campus on the June ballot following unanimous approval of the project by the City Council on Tuesday. It was less than two years ago — in November 2020 — that the original DISC proposal went before voters and was turned down on a 52-48 vote. Developer Dan Ramos returned to the city last summer with a slimmeddown version of the proposal that he said reflected community concerns. “DiSC 2022,” as the latest iteration is named, would bring about 1.1 million square-feet of office, laboratory and advanced manufacturing space, as well as 460 housing units, to open space directly east of Mace Boulevard and north of I-80. The new proposal is about half the size of the previous version. “Why are we back?” Ramos asked Tuesday night. “We believe in Davis, we believe in this project and we believe in its ability to advance numerous community goals.”
“If anything, (the surge)
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See DISC, Page A5
The Hotel Buena Vista in San Luis Obispo is one of the sites used as quarantine for UC Santa Barbara students who are sick with COVID-19. Omar Rashad/ CalMatters photo
Colleges reassess plans after surge By Omar Rashad, Stephanie Zappelli and Marnette Federis
How many isolation beds are needed on campus? Should inperson classes be resumed all at once, or phased in?
CalMatters California college students are headed back to classrooms just as new COVID-19 cases in the state are starting to decline from the peak of the omicron surge. But that doesn’t mean it’s an easy road ahead for the university administrators tasked with keeping them safe.
Those are just some of the questions colleges are grappling with as they head into the spring term, after postponing in-person instruction for the first few weeks of January. On the one hand, many public health experts say the virus will soon become endemic: con-
Officials report six more COVID deaths By Anne Ternus-Bellamy Enterprise staff writer Even as daily new cases of COVID-19 continue to decline in Yolo County, the ongoing — and deadly — consequences of the Omicron surge continue to be felt. Six more COVID-19 deaths were reported by the county on Wednesday, including two Davis residents — both men, one between the ages of 65 and 74 and the other an individual over 85. Since the pandemic began, Davis has lost 24 residents to the virus but the deaths reported Wednesday were the first in many months. The four other deaths
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Arts ������������������B1 Forum ��������������B4 Pets ������������������ A3 Classifieds ������B5 Obituary ���������� A4 Sports ��������������B6 Comics ������������B3 Movies ���������������� A The Wary I �������� A2
included two Woodland residents and two residents of unincorporated areas. The deaths in the unincorporated areas involved one person between the ages of 45 and 54 and one between the ages of 75 and 84. The Woodland deaths involved an individual ages 45 to 54 and another over the age of 85. There were 21 COVID19 patients in the county’s two hospitals on Thursday, including seven who are vaccinated. Those hospitals — Sutter Davis and Woodland Memorial — had no available medical/surgical beds and just one open ICU bed. The county has seen a significant decline in daily
WEATHER
new cases of COVID-19 since the Omicron surge peaked in early January. But the impact of that surge continues to be felt, as hospitalizations lag new cases by two to four weeks and deaths lag even further. Still, UC Davis, Healthy Davis Together and the county continue to report declines in new cases and test positivity. On Thursday, the campus reported a test positivity rate below 1 percent for the first time since Dec. 22, even as more students returned this week for inperson instruction. The positivity rate on campus from Jan. 26 to Feb. 2 was 0.80 percent.
See COVID, Page A2
Yolo County law enforcement clears marijuana convictions Special to The Enterprise A recent Los Angeles Times investigation found tens of thousands of Californians still have felonies, misdemeanors and other marijuanarelated convictions on their records despite the 2016 voter approval of Proposition 64, which legalized marijuana use for adults 21 and older. In light of this revelation, Yolo County has collaborated with criminal justice partners to clear more than 700 marijuana-related convictions as part of a criminal justice reform project. With their records cleared on
state and federal Department of Justice databases, residents have improved opportunities for socioeconomic success. As a result of the Times’ investigation, Assemblywoman Mia Bonta, D-Alameda, authored a bill that would automatically seal criminal records of qualifying marijuanarelated convictions. “Californians made a promise. I’m focused on making sure California keep its promise,” Bonta said of the measure, which gives California courts until Jan. 1, 2023, to update case records
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