COVID-19

Coronavirus Restrictions Could Lead To Remote Voting For Congress
COVID-19, IN OTHER NEWS

Coronavirus Restrictions Could Lead To Remote Voting For Congress

The spread of the coronavirus has created unprecedented problems for Congress as it confronts how to conduct legislative business after the infection of several members. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told Politico, “We probably cannot keep operating all in one location.” For all of U.S. history so far, the House and Senate have had to take votes in person, in their respective chambers. Now, public health measures may prevent that. As a former counsel for the House of Representatives from 1976 to 1983, I believe the Constitution permits Congress to use a method of voting other than gathering on the floor of their legislative chambers. Framers’ language The Framers who designed the constitutional structure for how things would work in Congress based it on parliamentary and colonial practices. ...
How to stop touching your face to minimize spread of coronavirus and other germs
COVID-19

How to stop touching your face to minimize spread of coronavirus and other germs

Public health officials consistently promote hand-washing as a way for people to protect themselves from the COVID-19 coronavirus. However, this virus can live on metal and plastic for days, so simply adjusting your eyeglasses with unwashed hands may be enough to infect yourself. Thus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have been telling people to stop touching their faces. We are experts in psychological science and public health. Brian Labus is an expert in communicable diseases who knows what people should do to avoid becoming infected. Stephen Benning is a clinical psychologist who helps clients change their habits and manage stress in healthy ways. Kimberly Barchard is an expert in research methods who wanted to know what the research say...
Older people are at more risk from COVID-19 because of how the immune system ages
COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS, Journalism

Older people are at more risk from COVID-19 because of how the immune system ages

The rapidly spreading coronavirus pandemic is taking a particularly harsh toll on older people. Data from the initial outbreak in China and then Italy show that infected people under the age of 60 are at low – but not no – risk of dying from COVID-19. Curiously, young children do not appear to be at increased risk of serious COVID-19 complications, in contrast to what happens with other viruses, like the seasonal flu. However, the statistics get grimmer as the patients get older. Whereas people in their 60s have a 0.4% chance of dying, people in their 70s have a 1.3% chance of dying, and people over 80 have a 3.6% chance of dying. While this may not sound like a high chance of death, during the current outbreak in Italy, 83% of those who succumbed to COVID-19 infection were over the age ...
COVID-19

Trump’s right: Congress should give Americans $1,000 right now to fight the coronavirus recession

Much of the U.S. economy has effectively shut down as America increasingly takes the coronavirus pandemic seriously. Retail stores and restaurants across the country are vacant. The entertainment and hospitality industries are on hiatus. While necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19, this will have grave consequences for the economy as well as for the tens of millions of workers who depend on hourly wages to buy food, medicine and put a roof over their heads. The Trump administration is finally taking it seriously too and asking Congress to pass an US$850 billion stimulus package, including sending $1,000 checks directly to all adult Americans. Some lawmakers are pushing for larger payments and over several months. This is welcome news. As a macroeconomist specializing in income inequa...
Will Trump shut down the stock market? 4 questions answered
COVID-19, IN OTHER NEWS

Will Trump shut down the stock market? 4 questions answered

Financial markets across the globe have plunged repeatedly in recent weeks over concerns about the growing economic toll from the coronavirus pandemic, on some days falling over 10%. This has raised the question of whether governments should shut down their stock markets until the panic subsides. We asked Jonathan T. Fluharty-Jaidee, a finance expert at West Virginia University, what measures financial exchanges have to stem panic selling and whether he believes a shutdown would be a good idea. 1. What measures prevent a free fall in prices? Most financial markets around the world have so-called circuit breakers that are triggered when overall prices drop by a certain magnitude. For example, if the price of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index falls 7% from its previous close, trading of a...
Vodka won’t protect you from coronavirus, and 4 other things to know about hand sanitizer
COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

Vodka won’t protect you from coronavirus, and 4 other things to know about hand sanitizer

As concern about coronavirus grows, hand sanitizer is in high demand. Biologist Jeffrey Gardner explains why alcohol is a key ingredient in hand sanitizer, and why he doesn’t recommend making your own supply at home. 1. Why is alcohol the main ingredient in most hand sanitizers? Alcohol is effective at killing different types of microbes, including both viruses and bacteria, because it unfolds and inactivates their proteins. This process, which is called denaturation, will cripple and often kill the microbe because its proteins will unfold and stick together. Heat can also denature some proteins – for example, when you cook an egg, the solidified egg whites are denatured proteins. 2. Alcohol doesn’t kill some microbes very well - why not? There are different types of bacteria and viruses, ...
I Understand Why Black People May Trust Their Intuition Over the Government On COVID-19
COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS

I Understand Why Black People May Trust Their Intuition Over the Government On COVID-19

I’m ashamed to admit it: I laughed when I saw the news story of the Black woman who wore plastic bags as she picked up a student from a Memphis school where an employee had contact with a patient who had tested positive for the new strain of coronavirus. As a Black woman and a practicing physician who works on Chicago’s South Side, I shouldn’t make light of the way a fellow Black woman attempts to protect herself in a country that often does little to protect her. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends frequent hand-washing, social distancing including avoiding crowds, keeping hands away from the face, and suggests wearing a mask only if you are sick.) Doctors are certainly not immune to panic or fear. But we are trained to remain calm in the face of uncertainty. We a...
The homeless could be hit hard by Coronavirus and that could hit everyone hard
COVID-19, HEALTH & WELLNESS, Journalism

The homeless could be hit hard by Coronavirus and that could hit everyone hard

As the number of cases of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, continues to grow, the nation is on edge. Doctors and scientists do not know what percentage of the general population has been infected and what percentage of the infected develops symptoms. State and local governments and the federal public health system are deploying strategies to contain the spread of the virus and consider ways to mitigate the effects of the disease on vulnerable groups, the health care system and the economy. But amid all the planning, and a growing sense of panic, the impact of the spread of COVID-19 among homeless people is not being widely discussed. It should, however, be of special concern to local officials. I am a professor of preventive medicine and health policy at the Keck School ...
Online learning and the digital divide will make it even harder for some kids
COVID-19, Journalism, VIDEO REELS

Online learning and the digital divide will make it even harder for some kids

More than 10,600 of the nation’s public and private schools were closing at least temporarily by March 12 as communities scrambled to protect themselves from the COVID-19 viral disease pandemic. With little or no time to prepare for this disruption, families from Seattle to the New York City suburbs are suddenly having to figure out how to help their kids learn at home. This is an unprecedented effort that so far involves at least 7 million children. The total is rising fast with closures in entire states like Ohio, Michigan, Maryland, Oregon, New Mexico and Kentucky. Indiana University, where I teach, recently announced that we’ll stop offering in-person classes and move all instruction online after spring break ends on March 22. On top of setting up live-streaming channels for the 250 ...
The new coronavirus is hitting colleges and universities hard, but donors can help
COVID-19, IN OTHER NEWS

The new coronavirus is hitting colleges and universities hard, but donors can help

Amid concerns about the deadly coronavirus pandemic, a rapidly growing number of colleges and universities are closing their classroom doors, forcing faculty to teach students online instead of in person. The risks posed by COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, are both dramatic and abstract. Without a vaccine, scientists can’t say how long it will last or what its full impact will be in any regard – including on higher education. There was almost no time to forge a plan to cope with either the logistical or financial consequences before they began to unfold. We are scholars of philanthropy who have examined the responsibilities of people in charge of overseeing colleges and universities. At this point, we are growing increasingly concerned about the hundreds of colleges ...