Coronavirus | Penn Today

Person wearing a face mask riding a bike with the London cityscape in the background.

England, Wales, Scotland among nations with highest death toll from COVID-19 pandemic

An international team including Penn demographer Michel Guillot found that from mid-February through May, 21 industrialized nations combined saw an 18% increase in deaths, or 206,000 more people dying from all causes than would have been expected had the pandemic not occurred.

A dog sitting on a couch, with a kitten nuzzled in its lap.

Fostering kittens, plus more Side Gigs for Good

Around nearly any corner, the Penn community’s selflessness shines through, despite months apart due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Chinese city says it tested 3 million people for COVID-19 in 2 days, showing how much the U.S. and Europe still lag behind in testing capability

Carolyn Cannuscio of the Perelman School of Medicine commented on the U.S. ability to test for COVID-19. “We have a broken testing system, and that sets us up for failure in contact tracing because people are waiting so long to get their test results that we have missed a critical period for counseling those people to stay home and avoid infecting others,” she said.

Advocates plead for housing aid as eviction cliff looms

Michael Levy of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the dangers posed by evictions during a pandemic. “Larger households are dangerous for infectious disease because you have more people so there's more avenues of ingress of the virus,” he said. “The worry was even a fairly modest change in the household size structure in a population could have kind of an outsized effect on an epidemic on a city scale.”

Can Trump really speed approval of COVID treatments?

Susan Ellenberg of the Perelman School of Medicine said she’d want to see clinical trial data before deciding whether to trust a coronavirus vaccine that was approved under Emergency Use Authorization. “If it looked to me like it was very effective, and I didn’t see any safety problems, then definitely,” she said. “I think I would recommend people getting it. I would get it myself.”

Anthony Fauci and Penn Medicine physicians on cancer care during pandemic

A virtual conference on cancer and COVID-19 discussed how medical professionals adapt to a rapidly changing environment and enforce protocols to deliver care safely, while individuals are choosing to skip cancer screenings or delay treatments.

From left to right, Rodolfo Altamirano, Eugene G. Janda, Leigh Rosen Gantz

Modeling excellence through COVID-19

As the pandemic impacts what it means to keep the campus running, Penn Today asks three supervisors, former Models of Excellence winners, for tips on helping staff address the new workplace.

Parent holding a baby in one arm while sitting at a table with a laptop.

How the pandemic is affecting working mothers

Wharton’s Janice Bellace discusses how unemployment during the coronavirus pandemic is affecting women so disproportionately.

‘Don’t be afraid of COVID,’ Trump says, undermining public health messages

Harald Schmidt of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about statements by President Trump that downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus. “I am struggling for words—this is crazy,” said Schmidt. “It is just utterly irresponsible.”

Two police officers in face masks standing in an underground subway stop, a person walking a bicycle walks past.

Research shows substantial drop in crime during COVID-19 pandemic

Professor of law, business, and public policy David S. Abrams’ report, “COVID-19: An Early Empirical Look,” analyzes data from over 25 large cities in the U.S.

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