Sudoku | March 11, 2021

While the name is obviously Japanese in origin, Sudoku puzzles were created by a Swiss mathematician in the 18th Century. The logic-based puzzle was first called "Latin Squares". In 1895, a French newspaper published what is considered to be closest and earliest predecessor to modern Sudoku. Nearly one hundred years later, sometime in 1984, the puzzles were introduced in Japan and their rise to a world-wide phenomenon began.

Click on the puzzle below and save it to your computer. Print and complete as you have time. It's good for your brain!

Here is the solution to last week's puzzle:

Vacci-Dating: Is it wise to share your vaccination status online?

by Victoria Knight
Kaiser Health News

Photo by Alireza Helmi/Unsplash

As cold weather descended upon Washington, D.C., last fall, I deleted my dating apps.

I had tried a few video-chat dates when the pandemic was new last spring. They were fun and novel at the time, and felt like a “quarantine experience.” By summer, I went on several physically distant dates in the park.

But once the temperature started dropping, meeting outside lost its appeal. First dates are awkward enough without shivering as your breath freezes to your mask, all while trying to uncover the title of someone’s favorite book. So I bailed.

Something happened recently, though, that made me return to the dating app world. A local website published an article about people announcing their vaccination status in dating app profiles. Other news outlets followed. I had to see it with my own eyes.

So, I redownloaded my favorite apps: Hinge, Bumble and Tinder. I disclosed in my bio that I was a journalist working on a story about people announcing their vaccination status in dating profiles. Then, I spent the next three hours madly swiping.

Wen gave me the reality check I expected, and kind of deserved.

Lo and behold, I found several 20- and 30-somethings proudly displaying their vaccine status. One wrote at the top of his profile, "I got both doses of the Pfizer, Covid vaccine!" Another said, "im covid19 free got vaccinated too."

I messaged them all. Noel, a nurse who lives in the D.C. area, got back to me. He said he put "COVID vaccinated" in his bio as a statement for what he stands for. (KHN is not identifying Noel by his last name because he’s concerned about being identified by his employer.)

“I take very seriously the responsibility to care for myself in order to keep others safe,” he wrote. Noel, who has received both vaccine doses already, said his status announcement has gotten him only positive responses so far. Some people even seemed reassured by it.

It made me wonder: Should this declaration give people the peace of mind to start increasing the frequency of in-person dates? When considering whether to meet up with someone who is vaccinated versus unvaccinated, vaccinated does sound safer. It even initially gave me a spark of hope. But should it?

I polled a few friends who use dating apps. They told me they had indeed spotted the same trend. One who lives in Los Angeles is even going on a FaceTime date with a guy who had "PS I’m vaccinated" in his Hinge bio. She still opted for a video chat, though. "Can’t they still be carriers even if they’re vaccinated?" she texted me.

The next day, I called Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency room physician, public health expert and visiting professor at George Washington University.

I asked her what those of us who might be swiping on the apps should think if we come across someone who advertises that they have been vaccinated.

First, Wen gave me the reality check I expected, and kind of deserved.

"It’s not a free pass," she said. "We don’t know whether ‘if’ somebody is vaccinated means they will no longer be a carrier of coronavirus. They may still be able to infect you even if they are safe from coronavirus themselves."

Studies have shown that the Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, the three vaccines currently available in the U.S. under emergency use authorizations, significantly reduce covid symptoms and are effective in preventing hospitalizations and death from the disease. But it’s still possible for those who are vaccinated to get sick with covid. And research is pending on how great the risk is that those who are vaccinated can carry the virus and pass it on to others.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a recent White House covid-19 press briefing that early studies from Spain and Israel indicate vaccination seems to lead to lower viral loads in the body, which can mean a fully inoculated person is less likely to pass covid on to someone else. But questions remain about transmissibility.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that those who are vaccinated continue to wear masks and maintain physical distance as the vaccine rollout proceeds. Public health experts also point to the emerging covid variants that are finding a foothold in the U.S. The available vaccines appear to be less effective against the variants, another reason for people to be vigilant.

Wen said if two unvaccinated parties who match on a dating app want to meet up, they should take the precautions we’ve heard about since the beginning of the pandemic: meet outdoors, keep 6 feet apart and ask about your favorite book from behind a face-fitting mask.

If both unvaccinated people eventually want to meet indoors, she added, and they both live alone, they could. But it is not exactly a romantic process. They could quarantine for several days. Then both could get a covid test and, as long as they both have negative results, meet up.

However, if you’re like me and live with roommates, and especially if your new paramour also lives with others, too, then that adds more layers of complications.

"Then you take on the risk of all those individuals that live in the other house," said Wen. "Let’s say all those other people have relationships with someone else, who then have extended networks too. Now your pandemic pod is not with four roommates, it’s potentially with dozens of individuals."

"You’re only as safe as the highest-risk person," she added.

There is one silver lining, though, said Wen. She believes if two people are vaccinated they can safely get together.

"We don’t know this for certain, but here’s what I would say for people who are vaccinated and live alone," said Wen. "I actually think you could pretty safely see somebody else who is vaccinated."

If it’s not something the person is willing to discuss, then perhaps they aren’t someone with whom you want to meet up.

Wen issued this advice, she said, with the assumption that both people are trying to mitigate their covid transmission risk by wearing masks in public, washing hands, minimizing social circles and not frequenting indoor spaces. Matches should discuss what safety precautions they’re taking before meeting up.

This recommendation also applies to us unvaccinated daters — we should all be having open conversations with our matches about what covid precautions we’re taking and in what circumstances we would feel comfortable meeting in person.

Think about this open communication the way you would talk to a potential sexual partner about the precautions you’re taking to prevent sexually transmitted infections or pregnancy. If it’s not something the person is willing to discuss, then perhaps they aren’t someone with whom you want to meet up.

But, never fear. As eligibility for the covid vaccine opens up to groups that may include younger people, it’s likely vaccine status will gain more prominence in dating profiles. While vaccines were initially limited to health care workers, long-term care facility residents and those 65 and older, eligibility categories in some states are widening to include other essential workers and people with underlying medical conditions.

It also seems possible that dating app companies may eventually roll out a feature to select or highlight your vaccination status in your profile, rather than having to write it in the bio, said Jennifer Reich, a sociology professor at the University of Colorado-Denver, who studies vaccine attitudes.

"I think we could imagine a range of things around covid. We could imagine fields about working from home, vaccine status, antibody status," said Reich. "Adding these to your profile could help users figure out how they want to manage risk in their lives and what levels of risk they want to take."

As for me, now that the dating apps are downloaded on my phone again, maybe I’ll give video dates another shot. At least until it’s summer again or I get my own vaccine — whichever comes first.

Prep Sports Notebook | Basketball season coming to a close, SJO soccer starts

Rockets lose another close one

Blake Kimball delivered points in all four quarters of Unity's road loss to Bloomington Central Catholic on March 9. The junior star led the team with 20 points and was 6-for-7 from the free throw line.

Will Cowan and Nate Drennan chipped in seven points a piece in the last game of the Rockets' 2021 basketball season. The team finished 3-9 overall, 2-6 in conference play.

St. Joseph-Ogden falls to Olympia

More than 40 spectators were on hand on a super windy Wednesday to watch SJO's first game of the season. The outcome wasn't what the Spartans had hoped for falling 3-1 to visiting Olympia in the season opener.

A little under four minutes after the visitors scored the first goal of the game at 26.:56, SJO senior Logan Ingram answered with unassisted shot in the center slice to tie up the game 1-all in the first period.

Olympia added two more scores, one with 15 and half minutes left in the half and the other early in the second period to seal the conference win.

The Spartans are back in action for another Illini Prairie Conference dual next week on Tuesday at Unity.

Pence has another 30-plus game

Ty Pence scored 36 points in St. Joseph-Ogden's 59-51 win over St. Thomas More at home last night. Logging yet another double-double this season, the sophomore baller hauled in 13 of the team 29 rebounds against the Sabers.

Making 57% of his shots from the field, Jackson Rydell finished with 8 points. Meanwhile, Evan Ingram and Andrew Beyers contributed in the reschedule game from February with six points apiece.

SJO (8-3) plays their final game of the season on Friday against Bismarck-Henning tomorrow evening in non-conference competition. The Spartans completed their conference campaign with a 5-2 record.

St. Thomas More (4-3, 3-3) was paced by the 6-foot-3 Averi Hughes with 26 points and 12 boards.

New bill in committee would grant 'police powers' to General Assembly members

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by Patrick Andriesen, Communications Intern
Illinois Policy

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A bill in Springfield would grant “conservator of the peace” powers to all members of the Illinois General Assembly.

After Illinois state representatives and senators completed a law enforcement training course, House Bill 724 would allow them to:

Arrest or cause to be arrested, with or without process, all persons who break the peace or are found violating any municipal ordinance or any criminal law of the state

Commit arrested persons for examination

If necessary, to detain arrested persons in custody overnight or Sunday in any safe place or until they can be brought before the proper court, and

Exercise all other powers as conservators of the peace prescribed by state and corporate authorities.

State Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, has raised concerns about the proposed bill.

"Who’s going to carry the liability insurance? Who’s going to wear body cameras and when is that going to be required?" Caulkins said to WAND-TV. "Do you want political people with the power to arrest someone that they may not agree with politically? I mean, I think there’s a lot to be thought about."

The concerns Caulkins expressed over mixing the lawmaking powers of representatives with law enforcement echo criticisms long aimed at Chicago aldermen.

Alderman have been considered “conservators of the peace” under Illinois law since 1872, granting them the power to make arrests and carry a concealed handgun in the case they or someone else is under immediate threat of bodily harm. They also have badges.

But because Chicago is a home-rule municipality, city alderman were able to pass legislation making themselves exempt from the state-mandated firearm training required of law officers to carry firearms, despite possessing similar policing powers.

The bill was assigned to the House Executive Committee on March 2.

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survey tool

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Patrick is a communications intern with the Illinois Policy Institute. In this role, he focuses on creating and analyzing content to support our published research and experts in the media. Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization that promotes responsible government and free market principles. This story was originally published on March 9, 2021.