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Coronavirus Research

Seattle’s aging and ill homeless population in shelters is particularly vulnerable to coronavirus

Seattle’s aging and ill homeless population in shelters is particularly vulnerable to coronavirus

Dennis Culhane of the School of Social Policy & Practice spoke about health risks for the aging U.S. homeless population. “We are already up to our knees in this elderly homeless phenomenon,” he said. “Obviously the coronavirus just amplifies the fact that we have this very vulnerable elderly group.”

Talking to kids about coronavirus
Concerned parent holding an adolescent child's hand and touching their forehead

Talking to kids about coronavirus

Kids are going to have questions and fears about the COVID-19 virus. Caroline Watts, a practicing child therapist and Penn GSE’s Director of School and Community Engagement, shares how parents can address them.

Penn Today Staff

What if you want a COVID-19 test but don’t have health insurance?

What if you want a COVID-19 test but don’t have health insurance?

Evan Anderson of the School of Nursing said concerns about the accessibility of coronavirus testing aren’t unreasonable. “For the people that are uninsured, they could very easily be looking at a few thousand dollars in charges at least,” he said. “Even for people who are insured, they may very well have a high deductible, and they could still be facing a $1,000 charge.”

Meet the federal government’s coronavirus expert

Meet the federal government’s coronavirus expert

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel vouched for Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases and an expert on the novel coronavirus. “He’s Mr. Authoritative. You want an authoritative statement or idea, you go to Tony. He says what he knows, and he doesn’t say what he doesn’t know,” he said.

As coronavirus spreads in the US, employers gear up for massive work-from-home experiment

As coronavirus spreads in the US, employers gear up for massive work-from-home experiment

Peter Cappelli of the Wharton School discussed how workplaces are preparing for the spread of the novel coronavirus. “We’re trying to figure out how to keep the business going when people can’t get to the office,” he said. “My sense is the first thing that will happen, and the most likely thing is that it's not that all your employees will be too sick to work, it's that they won't be in the office.”

A reality check on coronavirus
microscopic view of coronavirus

A reality check on coronavirus

The novel disease is serious. But risks here remain low, says Ezekiel J. Emanuel, vice provost for global initiatives, who attended a World Health Organization meeting on the subject last week.

Katherine Unger Baillie

The coronavirus is spreading rapidly. So is misinformation about it

The coronavirus is spreading rapidly. So is misinformation about it

PIK Professor Duncan Watts spoke about the prevalence of misinformation regarding health scares. “In any contest between someone who says, ‘It’s complicated and we don’t know the answer,’ and another person who says, ‘We know what to do,’ the other person will always get more attention—even when we know they’re not right—because it’s simple and appealing and lends itself to action,” he said.

Coronavirus math shows the importance of social distancing, and the horrible consequences of not doing it

Coronavirus math shows the importance of social distancing, and the horrible consequences of not doing it

Research by Hanming Fang of the School of Arts and Sciences and colleagues was cited. “Social distancing and, if an epicenter can be identified, as was the case for the city of Wuhan in China, a lockdown can play crucial roles in ‘flattening’ the daily infection cases curve, giving the stressed medical system a chance to regroup and deal with the onslaught of new infection cases,” wrote Fang and his coauthors.