In the News
-
April 24, 2020
Physically active U.S. veterans are more likely to fall but less likely to get hurt when they do, compared with inactive older adults who didn’t serve in the military, according to research by Geoffrey Hoffman, assistant professor of nursing: “The inference is that being active puts you at more risk for a fall, but if you are more active/in shape, the fall is more likely to be a minor one and not a serious one resulting in injury.”
U.S. News & World Report -
April 24, 2020
“The stimulus checks are not income, so they’re not going to count against your food stamps, your housing subsidies, your unemployment benefits, anything like that. They are processed as a tax credit, so folks shouldn’t be worried about anything happening to their benefits if they get these checks,” said Afton Branche, strategic project manager for U-M Poverty Solutions’ Detroit Partnership on Economic Mobility.
WDET Radio -
April 24, 2020
“We never really conquer microbes — at best, we wrestle them to a draw. An outbreak anywhere can easily go everywhere. And, it is no longer an issue of if we are going to have another contagious catastrophe in our new world order, it’s a matter of when. That means we start preparing for the next infectious battle as soon as we are done with this one,” wrote Howard Markel, professor and director of the Center for the History of Medicine.
PBS NewsHour -
April 23, 2020
“In 1935, people were sending dimes in postal envelopes, letters with the same threats or the same promises that you’ll become famous. So why wouldn’t people still do this?” said Scott W. Campbell, professor of communication and media, on the comeback of email chain letters amid the anxiety and restlessness of coronavirus isolation. “This is a way that people are expressing a new level of connectedness.”
CNN -
April 23, 2020
“Even if visiting individual homes is impeded, there are other things they can do to try to improve the count, and I think they will,” said Barbara Anderson, professor of sociology and population studies, on the Census Bureau’s decision to delay some of the count, which could help circumvent the coronavirus pandemic and “make the undercount much less than it would have been otherwise.”
The New York Times -
April 23, 2020
“State governments aren’t built to handle national crises. They have difficulty coordinating their efforts because of what social scientists call collective action problems. … Governors naturally put their own residents’ welfare first, even if they know that every state would be better off if all coordinated. No one was ever re-elected governor of Rhode Island for helping the people of New York,” wrote Jenna Bednar, professor of political science.
The Washington Post -
April 22, 2020
With tornado season upon us, officials should clearly communicate what residents need to know before a disaster strikes, especially since people whose homes are destroyed and lives upended are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, says Ryan Malosh, assistant research scientist in epidemiology: “The public will need to know both where to go to be safe from the natural disaster and how to protect themselves, and others, from the virus once they get there.”
TIME -
April 22, 2020
Closing schools for a long period has the potential to seriously exacerbate disparities between lower-income students, who may not have internet or computer access, and their higher-income peers, according to Julia Wolfson, assistant professor of health management and policy, and of nutritional sciences, and Roshanak Mehdipanah, assistant professor of health behavior and health education. “The biggest immediate needs are making sure students who need food can get it and students who need additional support connecting with teachers, classmates and learning opportunities get that technical support,” Wolfson said.
The Detroit News -
April 22, 2020
“It’s not the role of states, in terms of the real practical operation of the system, to be leaders, to be defining policy on this level for themselves, let alone for large parts of the country collectively. So a lot of governors and a lot of state governments rose to the challenge, and took decisive action and coordinated, and, in many ways, became united states,” said Scott Greer, professor of health management and policy and of political science.
National Public Radio -
April 21, 2020
Hospital layoffs due to declining revenues from lost patient office visits and postponed medical procedures are a sign of the stress that the health care system is under, says Wally Hopp, professor of technology and operations, and industrial and operations engineering: “They’re trying to stem the red ink that’s hitting them. The lion’s share of their costs is people. It’s tragic that they’re furloughing people in the middle of a health and economic crisis.”
Detroit Free Press
