Coronavirus | Penn Today

Why are COVID-19 cases in kids rising? It's mostly the adults around them

Susan Coffin of the Perelman School of Medicine commented on reports that the U.S has experienced a 90% increase in pediatric COVID-19 infections since early July. “The array of activities that all of us are doing has expanded,” she said.

Person standing outside in front of trees and flowers hiding an iron fence.

Experiencing the pandemic from abroad

When rising junior Julia Mitchell learned in March that France was about to shut down, she decided to immerse herself further in the language rather than come home, quarantining with her homestay family and finishing courses remotely.

How COVID sends some bodies to war with themselves

Nuala Meyer of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the problem of immune-system overreaction in response to coronavirus. “In both sepsis and [acute respiratory distress syndrome], we haven’t made the strides we wish we could have,” she said.

Q&A: 'We’re relying on the word of Vladimir Putin' for Russian vaccine

Paul Offit of the Perelman School of Medicine was interviewed about Russia’s claims that it has approved a COVID-19 vaccine. “When Vladimir Putin says that it looks good, it’s safe, it’s effective, what he means is that there have been these patients presumably producing antibodies—and nobody died,” he said. “But he can’t possibly know that what they have in Russia is safe or effective, really, until they move to Phase III trials. Which doesn’t even start until next week.”

Does your favorite mask actually work? Researchers now have a way to tell

Christina Bax of the Perelman School of Medicine commented on a study that tested different types of face masks. It’s exciting “to see that their team was able to use the laser light scattering method to test face masks and to show the efficacy of numerous types of masks,” she said.

Maps, pandemics, and reckoning with history

Geospatial data has long been an important tool for scientists and scholars, but now, as society grapples with both coronavirus and a history of systemic racism, can maps help chart a path toward a brighter future?

Coronavirus turmoil raises depression risks in young adults

Maria A. Oquendo of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about how pandemic-related social isolation could derail teens’ emotional development. “One of the key jobs that a teenager has developmentally is to learn how to develop trusting friendships and resolve conflicts in ways that are constructive and productive,” she said.

As big department stores struggle, other mall tenants falter, too

Barbara Kahn of the Wharton School said the pandemic has led to consumers to adopt “e-commerce behaviors that we didn’t expect to see for a few years from now.”

COVID-19 cases top 20 million world-wide

Jeff Morris of the Perelman School of Medicine said the current number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. shows how the country has failed to manage the pandemic. “Our focus this summer should have been to get our viral levels down as low as possible by the end of summer” he said. “That really hasn’t happened.”

Santosh Nori and Jay Shah in front of medical van

Primary care, delivered

Class of 2019 alumni, in collaboration with Sayre Health Clinic, bring housing and food insecure people in Philadelphia primary care through a medically outfitted van.

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