The Volante
THE STUDENTS’ VOICE SINCE 1887 VERVE (B1, B2)
W E D N E S D AY, J A N U A R Y 2 6 , 2 0 2 2
USD professors perform Ragtime for students and community Dr. Wadley was excited for the recently tuned xylohone to be played on stage. Dr. Wadley was joined by Dr. Cranson, Dr. Viques and his son, Logan Wadley
VOLANTEONLINE.COM SPORTS (B3, B4)
Men’s basketball finds season interruptions due to COVID-19 Men’s basketball begins Summit Leage play. They will be back at home for a match-up against the Bison on Jan. 27.
OMICRON SURGES AT USD, CDC GUIDELINES CHANGE
Rachel Thompson | The Volante
USD Covid-19 Dashboard graph shows cases peaking on January 17 at 129 cases.
Maddi Kallsen
Maddilynn.Kallsen@coyotes.usd.edu
As COVID-19 resurges through the community, USD is continuing to provide testing, even amidst the test shortage. Testing is available Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Muenster University Center (MUC) in the Hoy room located in the northeast corner on the first floor. Kevin O’Kelley, head of the USD COVID-19 Taskforce, said USD is experiencing a COVID surge of the OMICRON variant. There were 129 cases Jan. 17, and as of Jan. 25 there were 42 cases. The projected peak is expected to hit within the next couple weeks in the Clay County community.
“We’re looking at other locales. We anticipate a four week normal distribution curve and we’re in week one and a half of it down. In another week or so we expect we will be at the peak, so please continue to be careful,” O’Kelley said. Fully vaccinated and boosted people are experiencing mild symptoms, O’Kelley said. Some are asymptomatic but there’s a high number of people currently infected. O’Kelley said he encourages everyone to get tested regularly. Test shortages are present not only across South Dakota, but across the entire United States, O’Kelley said. The USD testing center is using rapid tests for symptomatic people and saliva PCR tests for asymptomatic people. “The new OMICRON variant is
highly contagious and it does not respect the vaccine as much as previous variants did. Many of the people testing positive for COVID-19 now are fully vaccinated and boosted,” O’Kelley said. “Having said that, the vaccine does keep the illness down a bit and minimizes the effects of the illness.” The Vermillion high school and middle school mandated masks through Jan. 23 because the school district has a 1.5% threshold of infected students and faculty, Keloland reported. O’Kelley said the hospital reported the only hospitalizations where of unvaccinated people. “Sanford reported that no vaccinated and boosted people are in the hospital at present. So vaccination is still a good
thing,” O’Kelley said. USD and other South Dakota public universities currently don’t have mandated precautions to combat COVID-19, including mask mandates. “We don’t have any mandated safety precautions because we all know how to prevent getting COVID-19,” O’Kelley said. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) changed the length of recommended quarantine time from 10 to five days and USD is adhering to this new rule. The spike on the USD COVID-19 Dashboard indicates students are getting tested regularly, along with the spread of the virus, O’Kelley said. The peak is anticipated to hit the Clay County com-
munity within the next two weeks. “If students do test positive or need to quarantine they should reach out to housing. We have an email that’s called housingcovid@usd.edu. If they just email that we can set them up with meals and whatever else they need. It’s monitored pretty close to 24 hours a day,” Kate Fitzgerald, USD director of housing, said. “Every student quarantined in the residence halls gets an email from me every morning to let me know if they need anything.” Four free tests are available to order at covidtests.gov. The university has encouraged students to use the newly created quarantine calculator that was produced by The SD Department of Health.
Vermillion Protect Trans Kids Rally follows new SD legislation Bennett Clary
Bennett.Clary@coyotes.usd.edu
The Vermillion Protect Trans Kids Rally was held on Jan. 16 at the Platz. The event was hosted by the South Dakota Transformation Project Trans Advocacy Program calling to protect trans people amidst new South Dakota legislation of HB 1005, HB 1006 and SB 46. The event was a collaborative statewide effort by the ACLU of South Dakota, Transformation Project Advocacy Network, Human Rights Campaign and a few other organizations. They hosted multiple rallies across the state including ones in Sioux Falls, Rapid City and Aberdeen.
Mike Phelan, owner and manager of Outside of a Dog Books & Games, helped host the Vermillion event and was one of six speakers. These speakers shared personal stories and prepared speeches in opposition to the bills. “This is about letting trans people know that they have the support of their community here in Vermillion and letting our legislators know that we want them to oppose anti-trans legislation,” Phelan said. Members of USD’s Spectrum also attended the event to show their support for trans people and opposition to the bills. Phelan said there are lots of trans people across South Dakota and in Vermillion. He
said there are also lots of people who love trans people. “We want all of these people to know that they’re not alone, that there are resources available to help with figuring out what it means to be trans, what it means to be questioning their identity,” Phelan said. Graduate student Mason “Beanie” Luttig also spoke at the rally to share his story as a trans athlete. Luttig said he has been checked physically at softball tournaments and even been asked to show his birth certificate. “It’s really frustrating as an athlete and I know growing up, we just want to play sports because there’s no escape and it’s a good way for us to burn off energy and be able to be
The Vermillion community shows support for transgender students at rally on the platz.
successful because we get taught how to be good teammates, we get taught to be good leaders and how to guide other people in the community,” Luttig said. Phelan said that trans people often just want to be left alone to live their lives, but are instead misunderstood or mistreated by those who don’t support them. “A couple of our speakers today mentioned that there are bad mental health outcomes associated with discrimination towards trans and LGBTQ+ people and we want those individuals to know that there are resources available, that your community supports you and that there is a lot of love here in Vermillion,” Phelan said.
For people who are looking for someone to talk to, Luttig said there are different resources out there with people who are fighting a similar situation. Luttig said students can be whoever they are without anybody else validating their situation. “If you aren’t able to come here and show your voice, to be able to speak out, that you’re not alone...and that at the end of the day, if you’re yourself or you aren’t out to people and stuff like that, that doesn’t take away your identity, that doesn’t take away from who you are,” Luttig said.
Bennett Clary | The Volante