Author: TheConversation

By Hilary Godwin, Dean, School of Public Health, University of Washington How and when states reopen their economies will look different from one state to the next, depending on where that state is in the trajectory of its coronavirus illnesses. In this Q&A, Hilary Godwin, dean of the University of Washington School of Public Health, explains why and why it makes sense for groups of states to coordinate their plans. Governors are walking a tightrope as they try to figure out how to safely ease off social distancing restrictions and restart their economies without triggering a new surge in...

By Tom Duszynski, Director Epidemiology Education, IUPUI The coronavirus is certainly scary, but despite the constant reporting on total cases and a climbing death toll, the reality is that the vast majority of people who come down with COVID-19 survive it. Just as the number of cases grows, so does another number: those who have recovered. In mid-March, the number of patients in the U.S. who had officially recovered from the virus was close to zero. That number is now in the tens of thousands and is climbing every day. But recovering from COVID-19 is more complicated than simply...

By Jamie Rowen, Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Political Science, University of Massachusetts Amherst From the elderly who are facing deadly outbreaks in nursing homes to communities of color facing higher infection and death rates, different groups face different challenges from the coronavirus pandemic. Among the most hard-hit are veterans, who are particularly susceptible to both health and economic threats from the pandemic. These veterans face homelessness, lack of health care, delays in receiving financial support and even death. I have spent the past four years studying veterans with substance use and mental health disorders who are in...

By Alex Bitterman, Professor of Architecture and Design, Alfred State College of Technology, The State University of New York; and Daniel Baldwin Hess, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York A key group of allies is missing in the U.S. effort to face the coronavirus pandemic: the American people. In the wake of World War II and during the Cold War, the U.S. was the world’s best at planning and preparing for mobilizing the citizenry to take action in an emergency. In those days, the anticipated emergency was a nuclear attack...

By J. Carlee Purdum, Research Assistant Professor, Texas A&M University Under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic, states are turning to prisoners for support. After New York Gov announced that the state prison system’s industrial arm, Corcraft, would help produce hand sanitizer, other states followed. Incarcerated populations were put to work washing potentially contaminated hospital laundry, manufacturing protective equipment, disinfecting cleaning supplies, and digging mass graves. To date, nearly every state in the U.S. has announced that its incarcerated populations are contributing labor to the pandemic response. I am a sociologist who studies how emergencies affect correctional institutions. Dependence on...

By Heidi A. Campbell, Professor, Texas A&M University Calls for social distancing due to the coronavirus pandemic have forced churches to cancel weekly gatherings, with many church leaders moving worship online. To help facilitate this, church consulting groups and religious leaders have posted a variety of guides to address concerns pastors have about technological issues and resources required to make this move. A survey of 1,500 church leaders in the U.S., released at the end of March, found 41% of pastors were struggling with the technological side of this move. The same study suggested that around half of church...