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Volume CXVIII No. 17
Established 1904
February 26, 2021
STEVENS COVID CASES RISE AS THE SPRING SEMESTER BEGINS BY SARA DEUIDICIBUS
Contributing Reporter During the course of the pandemic, there have been a fair share of COVID-19 cases at Stevens which have been documented. The graphs included in this article are solely based on data collected from the Stevens website as well as weekly emails sent out to the Stevens Community. Every student, staff, and faculty member on campus is required to receive a weekly test at a scheduled time of their choice. On-campus tests have been, and continue to be, conducted by Bergen New Bridge Medical Center (BNBMC) through the Rutgers’ RUCDR SARSCoV-2 saliva testing method. The tests, if not covered by the individual’s health insurance, are paid for by Stevens. Students, staff, and faculty also have the choice to take a COVID-19 test off-campus and send their results to administration. It is important to keep in mind
that off-campus test results may be confirmed cases of students/staff/faculty who are not actively on campus nor have been for a while. Additionally, employees of on-campus vendors have not been included in the graphs since there have only been three total positive cases in that category. For the first few weeks before and leading up to the Fall 2020 semester, COVID-19 cases were either non-existent or very low. The first few cases appeared the third week of the semester; the middle to end of the semester is when spikes were seen in cases, with a peak of 10 new cases confirmed the week of October 26 through November 1. Results from tests taken off campus began to be reported the week of October 19; between that date and December 27 there were 19 confirmed cases of Stevens students and workers who were located on campus, compared to 36 individuals who tested positive but
COVID-19 vaccine availability in Hoboken BY ALEKSANDAR DIMOSKI
cine. People that are classified Business Manager as being “high risk” by the As the pandemic contin- Center for Disease Control ues to rage on, the health- and Prevention (CDC) incare industry is hard at work clude those that have pre-extrying to meet the massive isting conditions such as demand for vaccines. cancer or down syndrome, In an update from Feb- heart conditions such as carruary 12, Mayor Ravi Bhalla diomyopathies, pregnancy, announced that “the feder- and more. al government is predicting Locations currently availApril as the time frame when able include Riverside Medithe general population could cal at 1111 Hudson Street and begin to be vaccinated, with 609 Washington Street, as a greater vaccine supply well as the Hoboken Departanticipated in the coming ment of Health on 308 Wilmonths” and that “we are low Street. Additional locacurrently scheduling ap- tions can be found in Union pointments for next week for City and Jersey City, includthe remainder of 500 second ing CVS and Rite-Aid. When dose vaccines we have on journalists from patch.com hand, in addition to approxi- asked about adding a site mately 100 new weekly first- in Hoboken, a representadose vaccines.” tive from CVS stated that he So far, 1,700 people in could neither confirm nor Hoboken, NJ have received deny whether a site would be their first dose, with anoth- opened. As of this writing, er 700 having gone to Kear- all of the CVS locations have ny, NJ to get their first dose. been fully booked. There are another 3,000 A full list of CVS vaccinaHoboken residents that are tion sites can be found here, either seniors or otherwise Read the full story high-risk that will be receiving the next doses of the vacon thestute.com
Photo courtesy of Chloe Brenna for The Stute
were not on campus to study or work. Between December 28, 2020 and February 14, 2021, a total of 30 new on-campus-tested cases were reported. There was a recent spike of cases seen about two weeks before the time of this publication, with 12 new cases being recorded during
the week of February 1st, 2021 through February 7th, 2021. At the end of January there was a spike of new cases for those who study or work off campus — 69 to be exact, with 38 stemming from the week of January 25th, 2021 through January 31st, 2021 alone. Over the same time period there were
11 cases reported of off-campus-tested individuals who are actively on campus. As a whole, Stevens has confirmed under 140 new cases of COVID-positive individuals since August 24, 2020 that study
Read the full story on thestute.com
Graph courtesy of Sara Deuidicibus.
A short introduction to some of Stevens’ notable Black alumni BY KATRINA BERGEN
has illuminated newfound unique experience” that was Contributing Reporter insight into his life. Braxton “fundamental to him” and was born in 1914 in Wauke- “gave him the freedom to While Black History sha, Wisconsin. He grew up be the only black person in Month is currently celebrat- in a religious family in an the room.” Braxton and his ed and recognized every integrated, faith-based com- family moved to Jersey City year, February wasn’t offi- munity known as the Metro- when he was three-yearscially declared Black His- politan Church Association, Read the full story tory Month until 1976 by which his wife, Mrs. VirginPresident Gerald R. Ford. ia Braxton expressed was “a on thestute.com We have Carter G. Woodson, historian, writer, and ultiPhoto courtesy of @stevensarchives on Instagram – James mately the “Father of Black Braxton on his graduation day at Stevens, 1937. The James Braxton Papers, SCW.2020.004. History,” to thank for providing the impetus for Black History Month. Stevens Institute of Technology became integrated in the early 1920s; Randolph Montrose Smith was the first Black student to graduate from Stevens in 1924. Smith grew up in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance, and his family emigrated from Barbados via a ship named The Cearence in 1903, two years after his birth. Smith earned a degree in Civil Engineering and played for one of the final football teams before the sport was abolished in 1925 by President Alexander C. Humphreys. Post-graduation, Smith utilized his engineering degree to work on the subway system in Manhattan. Another notable alumnus is James Braxton ‘37. The library’s recent retrieval of the James Braxton Papers