Coronavirus | Penn Today

Small businesses still afloat grapple with whether to accept stimulus funds

Richard Prisinzano of the Wharton School commented on the Small Business Administration’s approach to distributing emergency funds. “Given more time I think they would have targeted businesses more,” he said. “It’s not going swimmingly, but I don’t think our expectations should be much higher.”

GLOBAL HANGOUT: Ask the Experts

Alison Buttenheim of the School of Nursing joined a panel of experts to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and what’s to come. “Epidemiologists are thinking about multiple scenarios, trying to learn from past outbreaks and from what we’ve seen so far with COVID-19. It is very likely that we will have future waves of outbreaks in local areas and in countries.”

Did closing schools actually help?

Robert Aronowitz of the School of Arts & Sciences said the public might be more reassured by a rigorous study of the effectiveness of closing schools during the pandemic than by ad hoc observations of school reopenings.

A teenager stands outside and puts a mask on their face while a group of friends wearing masks stands behind them on the grass.

With support from parents, teens forge a path to handle social distancing

Adolescents need and value their friends, relationships challenged by COVID-19 restrictions. By having explicit conversations and facilitating remote access to peers, the adults in their lives can help.

Not practicing social distancing, people walk down the street in close quarters wearing masks.

Penn Wharton Budget Model projects reopening states early could cause up to 233,000 extra deaths

The Penn Wharton Budget Model analyzed the health and economic effects of states both partially and fully reopening schools, businesses and restaurants.

Economics, not politics, helps explain why coronavirus and other diseases started in China

PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel and Scott Moore of the School of Arts & Sciences wrote about why many highly infectious diseases appear to originate in China. “First, rapid development in highly biodiverse regions brings more people into contact with exotic animals and the viruses that lurk within them,” they wrote. “Second, ever-more-extensive transport, trade and communications links continue to shorten the distances between a potential pandemic hot spot and virtually any other point on the globe.”

Two side-by-side images of drones at night over Penn Med reading Light it Blue and an emblem of medicine with a stethoscope created by drones illuminating the sky

Drone light show by Verge Aero honors frontline workers

As part of the local #PhillyShinesBlue campaign and the global #LightItBlue campaign, the aerial tribute honored health care professionals and first responders on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Q&A

Why risk behaviors, not orientation, should decide who gives blood

In a Q&A with Assistant Professor of Medicine Katharine Bar, an explanation on how the ban of blood donations on men who have sex with men came to be, why it persists, and what it should be changed to.

Microscopic coronavirus images superimposed over digital global map

Coronavirus models aren’t crystal balls. So what are they good for?

Epidemiologists and data scientists have been gathering data, making calculations, and creating mathematical models to answer critical questions about COVID-19, but math cannot account for the unpredictability of human behavior.

Supporting agriculture and a safe food supply

Essential workers in the School of Veterinary Medicine are caring for livestock, keeping track of disease, ensuring product consistency, and communicating with farmers to ensure that farms can continue providing a reliable food supply for the community.

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