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Public Health

Can Yelp reviews identify better skilled nursing facilities?
Elderly person in a wheelchair sits by an open window next to their bed in a nursing home.

Can Yelp reviews identify better skilled nursing facilities?

A new study suggests that hospitals, payers, and patients might learn something useful about the quality of skilled nursing facilities by checking online Yelp reviews.

From Penn LDI

There are 3 things we have to do to get people wearing masks

There are 3 things we have to do to get people wearing masks

Angela Duckworth of the School of Arts & Sciences, Lyle Ungar of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and PIK Professor Ezekiel J. Emanuel wrote an op-ed about how best to persuade people to wear protective face masks. “It’s not too late to apply three basic principles from behavioral science: make it easy, understood, and expected,” they write, “and we’ll soon see face masks everywhere, saving lives.”

Cancel sleep away camp

Cancel sleep away camp

Jill M. Baren of the Perelman School of Medicine and a Columbia University colleague wrote an op-ed proposing the cancellation of summer camps. “Camps are primarily in rural communities where an increasing number of COVID-19 cases are now emerging,” they write. “That local rise in cases increases the risk of transmission into camps, which could overwhelm already fragile hospital systems.”

Do political beliefs affect social distancing?
Group of people standing on the steps of a state building holding signs in protest of the state’s stay at home orders due to the pandemic.

Do political beliefs affect social distancing?

A new study found that political partisanship influenced Americans’ decisions to voluntarily engage in physical distancing at the start of the pandemic, particularly in response to communications by state governors.

Kristen de Groot

Side Gigs for Good during COVID-19
Person wearing a face mask in a grocery store standing next to a shopping cart.

Side Gigs for Good during COVID-19

Whether making masks, writing letters, raising funds, or shopping for neighbors, members of the Penn community have stepped up during the pandemic to support those in need.

Michele W. Berger , Katherine Unger Baillie

COVID-19 checkup
A grandparent and a child sit on a park bench in daylight, both wearing masks and sitting six feet apart.

COVID-19 checkup

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, vice provost for global initiatives and a physician, gave an update on the pandemic during a Perry World House virtual earlier this week. He says summer is a good time to open up in stages but cautions about fall.

Kristen de Groot

Cruelty to poor is the moral hazard

Cruelty to poor is the moral hazard

Jonathan Zimmerman of the Graduate School of Education wrote about Republican resistance to increasing food stamp allowances. Americans “take care of each other, so we can care for ourselves,” he wrote. “Shame on anyone—from any party—who forgets that.”