In a change from previous guidelines, UNCW will now require all students living on-campus to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test in order to return to campus. Previous guidance stated only unvaccinated students were required to participate in return-to-campus testing. Guidance for vaccinated faculty, staff and off-campus students attending on-campus classes will remain the same. These groups are not required to participate in return-to-campus testing. This guidance goes into effect among the rise of the fast-spreading omicron COVID-19 variant as students return from various places following winter break.

Even as data show the pandemic to be largely over for the fully vaccinated, the fear-mongering ultimately won the war. On July 27, the CDC recommended that fully vaccinated Americans in roughly two-thirds of U.S. counties should return to covering their faces indoors. At this time, only public places are included, and private gatherings remain unaffected. This does not sound too bad, but the move is based on circumstantial evidence that ignores the overall big picture.

Public health authorities in the U.S. have committed a massive blunder by suddenly withholding from a desperate nation a lifesaving vaccine.  Last week, the FDA and CDC recommended a pause of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine following reports of blood clots in women who had just received the inoculation.

To further boost vaccine demand, the incentives for the fully vaccinated could and should have been expanded even more, particularly regarding air travel. The CDC continues to retain its advice against taking to the skies, even for those with both doses. Its hesitancy to ease this guideline is understandable; if you are unknowingly carrying the coronavirus, flying across the country gives more opportunities for viral spread and could seed outbreaks that are hard to contain through contact tracing.

Alongside new guidance and guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), North Carolina has updated its coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine rollout plan. Once the state goes through...

While vaping has been around for several years, JUULS picked up steam and have been all the rage since my freshman year at UNC Wilmington. Thank goodness I did not have to deal with that in high school...

Editor’s Note: Kristen Rodriguez is a freshman at UNCW majoring in Political Science with a minor in International Relations. Kristen is a staff writer for The Seahawk and writes many of the pieces featured...

With influenza season peaking throughout the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 63 percent of its staff was furloughed in the wake of the government shutdown. With...