Coronavirus

James Pawelski of the School of Arts & Sciences said that comparing this year’s winter activities to last year’s will likely yield frustration. “What we can do is acknowledge this year is different, but there are new opportunities,” he said.

Allison Hoffman of the Law School weighed in on potential objections to a workplace COVID-19 vaccination requirement. “I think a lot of this will come down to how aggressive employers are with mandates, how are people feeling about the vaccine, how much time will there be for people to get comfortable with the vaccine. I think if employees feel safe, it will reduce the expansionary effect,” she said.

Harald Schmidt of the Perelman School of Medicine said it is reasonable to prioritize essential workers over older adults for the COVID-19 vaccine. “Older populations are whiter,” he said. “Society is structured in a way that enables them to live longer. Instead of giving additional health benefits to those who already had more of them, we can start to level the playing field a bit.”

Paul Offit of the Perelman School of Medicine addressed concerns about children returning to school amid the pandemic. “It’s extremely rare for a child to die of this virus, so it’s the teachers that you need to vaccinate,” he said.

Robert Gross of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and the early years of the AIDS crisis. “Just like how AIDS had to do with judgmentalism and mores related to gay sex and injection drug use, well, now Trump is using masks as a political message to say if you support him and the job he is doing then you don’t have to wear a mask. Or when he says we are ’rounding the corner.’ Well, now we are having a third peak as cases are rising in much of the country,” he said.

Stephen Gluckman of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the hazards of travel amid the pandemic and offered tips for staying safe. “I think a rental property, if you go to rent it for a week or two, that is probably a little safer than a hotel,” he said. “If you are self-contained, you are no different than when you are home.”

David Barnes of the School of Arts & Sciences spoke about the parallels between the flu pandemic of 1918 and the present pandemic. “It’s pretty clear [the Spanish flu] wouldn’t have lasted as long as it did or been as deadly if people had been keeping to themselves,” he said.