Author: TheConversation

By Abram Wagner, Research Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, University of Michigan The last few weeks have brought previously unimaginable changes to the lives of people throughout the United States. Americans everywhere are waking up to a new reality in which they cannot go to work or school outside the home and they have to stay six feet away from others. More than 80% of Americans are under such stay-at-home orders. People are also seeing charts in the news showing rapidly increasing case counts. This is likely to continue to occur. The United States surpassed Italy and China to have...

By Thomas Perls, Professor of Medicine, Boston University It turns out there is good science out there that helps us know what masks we need to wear and when to wear them. That being said, some of the following advice could change as scientists learn more about why some people get a bad or even lethal case of this virus while many more get through it OK. One of the areas of greatest confusion seems to be about masks. Much of the decision about wearing masks depends on what the essential businesses that remain open are doing to ensure...

By Lars Dzikus, Associate Professor in Sport Studies, University of Tennessee Baseball’s opening day came and went. The Olympics have been postponed. Football in the fall? Don’t count on it. With COVID-19 infections and deaths rising each day, the cancellation of live sporting events might seem like an afterthought. But in the coming weeks and months, their absence will undoubtedly be felt. This isn’t the first time sports have been put on hold. During previous crises and conflicts, sports have been stopped. But in the past, the reprieve was brief; sports went on to act as a way to...

By Michael Haedicke, Associate Professor of Sociology, Drake University Many Americans may find bare grocery store shelves the most worrying sign of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their food system. But, for the most part, shortages of shelf-stable items like pasta, canned beans and peanut butter are temporary because the U.S. continues to produce enough food to meet demand – even if it sometimes takes a day or two to catch up. To keep up that pace, the food system depends on several million seasonal agricultural workers, many of whom are undocumented immigrants from Mexico and other...

By Anne P. DePrince, Professor of Psychology, University of Denver; and Joan M. Cook, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Yale University U.S. intel agencies issued dire, classified warnings to President Trump in January and February about the dangers posed by the coronavirus, according to revelations reported in The Washington Post. For weeks, U.S. communities coast to coast sounded the alarm. They didn’t have enough tests to diagnose, track and limit the spread of COVID-19. Meantime, federal and some state officials downplayed the need for a coordinated response. There is a name for situations when systems that are supposed to take...