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The Corne¬ Daily Sun 8 Pages – Free
Vol. 139, No. 6
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2022 n ITHACA, NEW YORK
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Sip of Fresh Boba
Global Bird Decline
Cloudy And Rain
Read an in-depth restaurant review on newly-open Asisan bubble tea and poke chain Tai Chi. | Page 5
With approximately three billion birds gone since 1970, Cornell’s Ornithology lab tackles climate change. | Page 8
HIGH: 78º LOW: 60º
Monkeypox Vaccine Made Available in Tompkins County By ELI PALLRAND Sun News Editor
As of Sept. 2, Monkeypox vaccines are available in Tompkins County for high-risk individuals. The vaccine, which is taken in two doses, will be distributed at the Tompkins County Health Department. Monkeypox, a viral disease which can cause flulike symptoms, rashes and sores and is contracted through direct contact with the bodily fluids, respiratory droplets, or clothing of an infected person or animal, was declared to be a global health emergency by the World Health Organization in July 2022. In response, the Biden administration has boosted vaccine supply. The vaccine comes less than a month after three cases of monkeypox were reported in the county,
adding monkeypox to the list of pandemics students face this fall. As of Sept. 6, 3,326 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in New York State. Because the vaccine is limited to high risk individuals, receiving it requires qualifying based on New York State-determined categories such as having recent exposure to a suspected or confirmed monkeypox case in the last 14 days, individuals at high risk for exposure (including LGBTQ+ identifying individuals, and men who have sex with men who have engaged in intimate or skin-to-skin contact in the last 14 days) To continue reading this article, please visit cornellsun.com.
JULIA NAGEL / SUN PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Labor shortage | A TCAT bus drives through Cornell campus to trans-
Eli Pallrand can be reached at epallrand@cornellsun.com.
port students, faculty and staff in the midst of a major service reduction.
Bus Driver Shortage Leads to Substantial TCAT Service Cutback By XINYU HU Sun Contributor
VICTOR J. BLUE / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Public health | People form a line to receive Monkeypox vaccines in a neighborhood in Harlem, N.Y., as Tompkins County, too, announces its Monkeypox vaccine availabilities for high-risk individuals.
Behind the Scenes of Cornell Cinema Labor Day weekend ticket sales signal strong return By CAMDEN WEHRLE Sun Staff Writer
Students walking through Willard Straight Hall recently may have noticed a familiar scent wafting up from the bottom floor — fresh popcorn from Cornell Cinema. After several semesters of scaled back capacity and a closed concession stand, the Cinema, which screens films five to seven nights a week, is back in full operation for the fall semester. According to cinema manager and acting director Douglas McLaren ’05, the theatre’s operations are going strong, with nearly full, 340-seat screenings of “Everything Everywhere All at Once” on Labor Day weekend. Tickets cost $7.50 for undergraduate students, and an All-Access Pass that allows admission to films for a full academic year is available for $30.
“It’s pretty much coming back to normal,” McLaren said. “Our screening schedule and staffing levels are pretty close to what we were doing pre-pandemic.” This is despite the theatre being in a period of transition, according to head projectionist and technical supervisor Matthew Hidy. Internally, Mary Fessenden, director for 27 years, left the role in July and new director Molly Ryan will assume the position on Sept. 21. From the small projection booth overlooking the theatre, Hidy manages the Cinema’s projectors. Two 35 millimeter projectors and a digital cinema projector sit inside the booth, while two 16 millimeter projectors are positioned on the balcony. “As an archival venue that screens repertory films as well as first and second round cinema and See CINEMA page 3
Students may now have to wait longer to catch the bus. Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit announced its bus service cut last month, and since then almost all bus routes have been reduced due to a driver shortage. The reductions took effect on Aug. 22 and will last at least until Jan. 21, 2023, spanning the duration of the Fall 2022 semester and 2023 winter break. In a special board meeting on Aug. 17, TCAT bus service’s Board of Directors voted to approve major reductions on routes 11, 13, 20 and 82, where services to distinct geographical areas have been reduced by 20 percent or more. Only two routes — 14S and 15 — remain unchanged in their frequency and scheduling. TCAT General Manager Scot Vanderpool explained that TCAT considered many factors in evaluating how to cut specific routes. Their strategy was to reduce the frequency of the overall routes to avoid entirely eliminating any specific routes. “We elected to cut some of the night routes at Cornell. … We looked at the data on certain routes, 90 and 92, that run through Cornell between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m.,” Vanderpool said. “And we said, ‘we’d better not cut those because there’s a lot of people riding them.’ … So that’s one of the fac-
tors that we used [in our decision].” Vanderpool emphasized that, while unfortunate, the service cut is necessary to improve bus drivers’ working conditions and mitigate driver shortage. “[Bus drivers] do have to work six days a week over and over and over again, and that would be a safety concern because everybody’s tired of one thing. That’s just not sustainable,” Vanderpool said.
“We’re going to lose more people because they want to spend time with their families as well.” Scot Vanderpool
“We’re going to lose more people because they want to spend time with their families as well.” TCAT drivers are mandated to work six days a week, normally for 10 to 14 hours a day. According to Vanderpool and a local press release, the organization had 84 drivers before the COVID-19 pandemic. This past February, the number dropped to 66. Now TCAT employs about 70 full-time drivers. In TCAT’s Aug. 15 public See TCAT page 3