Coronavirus

Thea Gallagher of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about “reentry anxiety” and offered tips for managing these feelings. “Start thinking about ways you can make that reentry less like you're jumping into an ice bath and more like you're wading into water,” she said.

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel commented on the CDC’s revised mask and social distancing guidelines. “It wasn’t well done,” he said. “Slowing this down would have been the prudent thing to improve the communication and ensure that all the considerations that were needed on such a momentous decision were in fact taken into account and that the administration had answers for the very, very obvious potential scenarios.”

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel said that, while more research is needed to confirm the safety of vaccinating children against COVID-19, the outlook is promising. “We have to do a risk-benefit calculation, but so far the risks of vaccines are incredibly low and the protection is incredibly high,” he said.

Frederic Bushman of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about viral variants and the duration of COVID-19 vaccine efficacy. “We have it in our power to strongly influence the situation by getting vaccinated, wearing masks, and engaging in all the precautions we’ve been hearing about,” he said.

Eric Feldman of the Law School spoke about the legality of businesses requiring proof of vaccination from customers. “Assuming that there’s not a law to the contrary, they could surely ask customers for proof of vaccine status,” he said. “They’re then, of course, left with the decision of what they consider to be reasonable proof.”

Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg Public Policy Center said people tend to trust the hosts of shows they regularly watch. “Combine that trust with ongoing exposure and reinforcement in other media channels, and a popular host who creates or reinforces concerns about a COVID vaccine or about COVID vaccination in general can reduce the likelihood of vaccination among devoted viewers,” she said.

Emily Largent of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the efficacy of incentives in combatting vaccine hesitancy among Americans. "A donut or a ticket is not going to address their concerns," she said. "We’re still going to need other interventions."

Richard Berk of the School of Arts & Sciences said an increase in gun violence may be tied to the pandemic, which has interfered with after-school programming and slowed the legal system’s ability to process cases.