Coronavirus

Florence Momplaisir of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about what is being done to address high rates of vaccine hesitancy in Black communities. “I think there was a lot of reluctance due to the fact that people linked the vaccine to the Trump administration, which for the most part was seen as the picture of white supremacy,” she said.

Melanie Kornides of the School of Nursing spoke about vaccine hesitancy. “The people that are worried about the vaccine because of side effects will be reassured as they see people get vaccinated and as more data comes out showing that the vaccine is safe,” she said. “But the people that don't believe that a certain political party has their best interests at heart are going to be difficult to convince otherwise.”

Peter Cappelli of the Wharton School commented on the hiring of in-house medical professionals by companies. “I think it’s smart. Companies are thinking about bringing more employees back to work. They are concerned about getting sued by employees, so they need credible advice,” he said. “They also want to assure employees—maybe customers in some cases as well—that what they are doing is safe. A chief medical officer looks credible, more so than getting advice from outside consultants.”

Among the unique circumstances that the pandemic has brought to campus, up to a third of Penn’s 200 full-time athletic staffers, including coaches, took on COVID-related duties during the fall semester to avoid being furloughed amid deep budget cuts.

Tom Baker of the Law School commented on a lawsuit in which a New Orleans restaurant is suing its insurer for coverage of pandemic-related losses. “This is the first opportunity business owners have to prove the virus can cause physical damage or loss,” he said. “The decision will have an impact on whether other cases can move forward.”

Carolyn Cannuscio and Rachel Feuerstein-Simon of the Perelman School of Medicine and Kevin Volpp the Wharton School and Medical School made recommendations for how Philadelphia should handle the next wave of the pandemic. “In this holiday season, we are determined to be cautious and not risk infecting others—and we hope all of Philly will do their part too, as we’ve done before,” they wrote. “We also hope to see stronger messaging from city and state officials, sounding the alarm and waking our city up to this rapidly escalating emergency.”