Most Wisconsinites have complied with social distancing, despite protests in Madison last week.
Experts present data on coronavirus pandemic, social distancing
Badger Herald
May 1, 2020
Research
Will Amash tip the race to Trump? Analysts are split
Washington Examiner
Quoted: “The presence of a minor party candidate can affect who wins an election,” said Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and director of its elections research center. “My research on prior minor party candidates for president indicates that between 25% and 60% of their support is from people who would not have voted.”
As More Wisconsinites Leave Home, Health Experts Warn Against Ending Social Distancing
Wisconsin Public Radio
Quoted: Song Gao, a geography professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been aggregating cell phone data that shows how far Wisconsinites are traveling each day as a way to understand if residents are following the state’s “Safer At Home” order. Gao said residents’ mobility has been reduced significantly in the past month, especially in urban areas like Dane and Milwaukee counties.
But he has seen increased movement around Wisconsin starting last week
“I think this is also linked with last week’s events. Like people started getting (outside) and also last Friday, they also had some protests outside the state Capitol,” Gao said.
Asthma may protect against severe COVID-19, rather than raising the risk, UW study finds
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
New research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests that contrary to government guidelines, asthma may not put a person at increased risk for severe COVID-19, but may, in fact, offer some protection against it.
COVID-19 virus samples in Dane, Milwaukee counties differ, UW genetic sequencing reveals
Wisconsin State Journal
Most COVID-19 viruses sequenced from Dane County patients appear to come from Europe, while Milwaukee-area samples stem from Asia, according to preliminary genetic sequencing data by UW-Madison researchers. “There’s not much mixing between the two locations,” Thomas Friedrich, a UW-Madison professor of pathobiological sciences, said. “This suggests to us that there’s been some success in the travel restrictions that we are still under.
Higher Education/System
Wisconsin Colleges Are Offering Different Incentives To Attract Students
Wisconsin Public Radio
Quoted: UW-Madison anticipated a freshmen class of roughly 7,300 students, nearly 3,700 of those students would be in state.
André Phillips, director of admissions and recruitment at UW-Madison, said they should be able to surpass the 7,300 students anticipated by at least 100.
“We’ll likely have several hundred students that we’ll work with throughout the month of May leading up to the June 1 deadline, and that’s pretty significant,” Phillips said.
UW System starts Plan Ahead Team to prepare for fall semester
WKOW-TV 27
The system formed a Plan Ahead Team to review the best practices and criteria for a return to in-person instruction for the fall semester.
UW System forms ‘Plan Ahead Team’ to prepare for fall semester
NBC-15
They will be reviewing practices and criteria for in-person instruction.
Campus life
Public History Project hosts live online event to honor 30th anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act
Badger Herald
Project assistant for Public History Project spoke about specific challenges students with disabilities faced throughout history of UW.
State news
Experts split on whether Wisconsin should reopen on a regional basis
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Quoted: Jim Conway, an infectious disease expert and associate director for health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Global Health Institute, argued loosening restrictions regionally is a short-sighted idea.
“It’s like being in a swimming pool and having one area of the pool that it’s OK to pee in,” he said.
Conway said because the economy relies on travel in many sectors, there would be no way to ensure new cases weren’t brought to areas with few cases and few restrictions under a regional plan — especially in a state like Wisconsin with a lot of recreational tourism in rural areas.
Wisconsin businesses urge lawmakers to pass ‘Back to Business’ plan
Wisconsin State Journal
Dr. James Conway, a professor at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health who specializes in infections diseases, said loosening up restrictions regionally would more easily allow for infection to spread rapidly in places other than Madison and Milwaukee.
Health
Human behavior, anxiety and privilege underlie the dystopian feeling of our new coronavirus norms
Cleveland.com
Quoted: That non-verbal communication is complicated if a mask covers half of your face. If others are unable to see your mouth, they’re left to guess how you’re feeling, said Dr. Shilagh Mirgain, a health psychologist with the University of Wisconsin’s School of Medicine and Public Health.
“When we don’t get that nonverbal feedback, we feel more distance from one another, [and] it makes the other person feel less safe,” she said.
Student’s pug first U.S. dog to test positive for COVID-19
The Dartmouth
Quoted: Director of the Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Sandra Newbury, who has been conducting research on how COVID-19 impacts animals, stressed that the news is no reason to panic.
“We really don’t want people to freak out in general,” Newbury said. “In fact, it looks like dogs are not very good hosts for the virus … Most dogs that have tested positive have been asymptomatic.”
30% drop in heart attack patients worries UW Health cardiologists
NBC-15
Local cardiologists are concerned that people are avoiding treatment for heart attacks during the coronavirus pandemic, potentially putting their lives at risk.
State labs could test more COVID-19 samples but supply shortage hampers efforts
Wisconsin State Journal
UW Health relies solely on its own in-house laboratories to process COVID-19 tests, though it is purchasing reagents, which are chemicals needed to identify the virus’s genetic material from a patient’s sample, from Promega, headquartered in Madison.
Athletics
Unique position as Badgers’ director of meditation training offers Chad McGehee chance to explore mental performance
Wisconsin State Journal
Chad McGehee is fond of a comparison between strength training and mental training, perhaps even more so now that he has been hired as a director of the latter for the University of Wisconsin athletic department.
Business/Technology
TP shortage: When will it end?
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Quoted: “In the end of the day, there is only the same number of people wiping their, um, you know what,” said Troy Runge, the chair of the biological systems engineering department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
UW Experts in the News
Axios returns coronavirus bailout loan as news organizations grapple with the ethics of taking government funds
The Washington Post
Quoted: Tash and Brown’s comments get an endorsement from Kathleen Bartzen Culver, who directs the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
A government loan doesn’t automatically cause a conflict of interest, she said. But “I would . . . ask what [a] local news organization will do to counteract any potential conflict.” Her suggestion: “Any news organization that takes funds should report on that and reassure readers that they will continue to see fair, hard-hitting reporting, including on the government’s approach to an economy wrecked by an epidemic.”
Clues To Wisconsin’s Coronavirus Present Echo From Its Pandemic Past
Quoted: “You’ve certainly seen in places that stopped isolation measures too early — what the flu pandemic did in those places,” said Dr. James Conway, an infectious disease expert at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health and a self-described history buff.
Trump harshly blames China for pandemic; a lab ‘mistake’?
AP
Quoted: But virus expert David O’Connor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison said he thinks too little is known to rule out any source, except the idea the virus was man-made. Finding the source is important, he said, because it may harbor the next pandemic virus.
US intel says virus not manmade, still considers Chinese lab
Wisconsin State Journal
But virus expert David O’Connor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison said he thinks too little is known to rule out any source, except the idea the virus was manmade. Finding the source is important, he said, because it may harbor the next pandemic virus.