“If you have any kind of symptoms, the moment you sneeze, that homemade mask is going to get soaked,” said Dr. Nasia Safdar, medical director of infection control at UW Health. “You take it off, you contaminate your hands and you contaminate the environment.”
Quoted: Despite the declines, child poverty in the United States remains higher than in most similar countries. About 17.2 percent of American children live on less than half the median income, said Timothy Smeeding, an economist at the University of Wisconsin, citing data from Luxembourg Income Study.
Asian Americans are experiencing an increase of discriminatory and racist remarks amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the director of Asian American studies at the University of Wisconsin– Madison, this isn’t the first time this has happened.
Quoted: Experts say the logistics will get tougher to solve. “There’s a lot of specifics about this situation that makes this particularly risky for food-insecure households,” said Judi Bartfeld, a food security researcher at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “So in many ways I think it’s a perfect storm.”
Quoted: Dr. Alta Charo, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin, said shifting to crisis standards allowed states or healthcare providers to relax or change certain rules, such as using medical devices in ways they were not originally approved for, if they offer a “better-than-nothing option.”
Quoted: Vaccinations are a crucial form of preventive medicine in an animal’s development, said Dr. Ruthanne Chun, associate dean for clinical affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine and director of UW Veterinary Care.
Quoted: What kinds of communication can actually push people to take action—to, among other things, socially distance, wash their hands, and not freak out? I recently posed this question to risk communications expert Dominique Brossard, a professor and chair in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Quoted: The COVID-19 shutdowns have taken away cornerstones of newspapers’ already-struggling revenue: business ads and events, said Mike Wagner, a journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: “Climate scientists have a whole suite of tools by which they’re able to look at things like variability and changes over space and time, and now we can take those same approaches and think about how we can capture those dynamics for ecological responses,” said Benjamin Zuckerberg, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin—Madison and lead author on the new study. “It’s basically treating the biological observations of, say, birds and plants in the same way that climatologists treat observations of temperature and rainfall.”
The COVID-19 shutdowns have taken away cornerstones of newspapers’ already-struggling revenue: business ads and events, said Mike Wagner, a journalism professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“When news organizations rely on events to advertise about and rely on events that they themselves host, and they’re in an environment where there are no more events, they lose a significant portion of their revenue model,” he said.
Wagner said the situation still has time to get worse.
“It feels like March 84th, but really, we’ve just been at this for a couple of weeks,” he said. “The real economic hits are still to come, and the fact that an organization like the Isthmus had to close down so early, suggests how fragile some news organizations see themselves financially.”
Shilagh Mirgain, UW Health psychologist, said some of her clients actually prefer virtual health care because they get to talk with her from the comfort of their home.
Quoted: “Grocery shopping is one of those things that we have to do. We have to eat,” Dr. Jeff Pothof, UW Health Chief Quality Officer said.
Quoted: “I worry about additional heavy farm losses this year,” said Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: “This is a tale of two proteins, one viral, the other human, getting close and familiar and interacting more strongly,” said Michael Sussman, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: But the experience in the United States appears to be different, so far. Jeffrey P. Kanne, chief of thoracic imaging at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, said that U.S. experts are not currently recommending CT scans to diagnose patients without the genetic test.
Quoted: “Garnishment is a really important issue, especially for low-income, economically vulnerable families, the exact workers being laid off in the US right now,” said J Michael Collins, faculty director of the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: “The discovery of America was followed by possibly the greatest demographic disaster in the history of the world,” William M. Denevan, a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has written. This disaster changed the course of history not just in Europe and the Americas but also in Africa: faced with a labor shortage, the Spanish increasingly turned to the slave trade.
Quoted: Apps, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the author of dozens of books chronicling rural life in Wisconsin and helped answer Tucker’s question.
“It’s Sanders’ last stand in electoral politics,” said Barry Burden, director of the Elections Quoted: Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “He’s old enough that I don’t think anyone expects him to make another run for the presidency. He may be in his last term in the Senate or near it. Right now, he still has something of a national stage. Once he leaves the campaign, that will be gone.”
“I wish I could say I was surprised or shocked by that,” said Joshua Garoon, an assistant professor at UW-Madison who studies the sociology of public health. “But it’s precisely, given the situation in Wisconsin, what I would expect to see. … All else is not equal, especially in a city like Milwaukee.”
Heather Kirkorian is a developmental psychologist who does research in the area of digital media and child development for UW-Madison. She says a child’s age plays a big part in how effective digital learning can be.
“This event highlights how fragile workers are,” said J. Michael Collins, director of the Center for Financial Security at UW-Madison. “With no family leave, no sick leave, and often no retirement savings at work, and combined with lack of health coverage, a lot of workers are on their own.”
Podcast: Interview with Dr. Patrick Remington, an expert at UW-Madison on how disease spreads and is prevented.
“One of the things that they’re talking a lot about now are the similarities and differences between 1918 and the current dynamic that we have going,” said Micaela Sullivan-Fowler. She’s the curator of rare books and historical collections at Ebling Library at UW-Madison.
Quoted: In the new-world realities brought on by COVID-19, the disease spread from the new coronavirus known as SARS-CoV-2, early childhood specialist Lorena Mancilla urges parents and guardians to be kind to themselves while figuring out what works.
“Children need regulated, healthy parents more than anything else during this period of social distancing and shelter-in-place orders,” she said. “Life happens. Schedules may not work. It’s okay. Do what you can to keep your children safe.”
Quoted: “What we’re facing is unprecedented, and I don’t want to downplay its seriousness, but it’s not the worst-case scenario,” said Malia Jones, a researcher who studies infectious diseases at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
The nursing shortage has been a historic problem, said Linda Scott, dean of UW-Madison’s School of Nursing. What’s particularly problematic in this case is that there aren’t enough nurses nor are there enough educators to train future nurses. And many of those educators will soon retire. … UW-Madison’s traditional nursing program alone receives about 400 applicants for 160 spots. At least half of the students not admitted are qualified for the program, Scott said.
David Noyce, director of the Transportation Operations and Safety Laboratory at UW-Madison, called the drop stunning. “Traffic volumes do not change this drastically without a major influencer,” Noyce said.
Quoted: Trump’s insistence on referring to the illness as the “Chinese virus” plays into a central theme of his presidency, experts say, with the president demonizing foreigners. “I think that approach to this whole catastrophe just feeds the culture wars,” says Katherine Cramer, an American Politics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Vicki Bier, director of the Center for Human Performance and Risk Analysis at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said such scenarios are common, not just in government, but in virtually all industries and organizations.
For Alta Charo, a bioethicist with the University of Wisconsin – Madison, withholding treatments is a very pragmatic decision. ’It doesn’t help anybody if our doctors and nurses are felled by this virus and not able to care for us,’ she said. ’The code process is one that puts them at an enhanced risk.’
Quoted: R. Alta Charo, a University of Wisconsin-Madison bioethicist, acknowledged the prospect of withholding such care is unsettling but pragmatic. “It doesn’t help anybody if our doctors and nurses are felled by this virus and not able to care for us,” she said. “The code process is one that puts them at an enhanced risk.”
Vicki Bier, director of the Center for Human Performance and Risk Analysis at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said such scenarios are common, not just in government, but in virtually all industries and organizations.
Quoted: “We’ve had some children,” said Nasia Safdar, medical director of infection control and prevention at UW Health in Madison. Safdar said she was not allowed to reveal the exact number of children who’ve come to her hospital with the disease, but said, “It’s very few.”
Quoted: “Stay well hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids. Warm tea with honey and broth soups (yes, chicken soup!) can also be soothing,” Morgan says. The most important thing is to stay hydrated, emphasizes Dr. Jeff Pothof, chief quality and safety officer at UW Health, which is affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: The numbers reflect the staggering impact of restrictions on mass gatherings of 10 people or more and other efforts to slows the spread of virus. Economists said the number of initial claims were unprecedented for Wisconsin, including Noah Williams, economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy (CROWE).
Featured: Dr. Thomas Brazelton is medical director for UW Health’s telehealth program and a professor of pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. In an interview with WPR’s “The Morning Show,” Brazelton said many providers haven’t invested in telehealth services because of the cost of the equipment or the desire to improve in-person treatment options.
Quoted: Even in communities where no one has tested positive, it’s important people avoid contact as much as possible, said Alta Charo, a professor of law and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Charo cited recent information coming out of Iceland, which claims to have tested a larger percentage of its residents than any other country, showing only about 50 percent of people with the virus felt symptoms.
Quoted: “It’s important to recognize that there are a number of coronaviruses that have infected people for decades. These viruses often represent 10 to 20% of all the common colds in people,” said Dr. Christopher W. Olsen, professor emeritus of public health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine and School of Medicine and Public Health.
These are challenging times for all of us, and it’s often challenging to explain what’s going on to our children.
Community college transfer programs face challenges both at their home institutions and at the institutions to which students want to transfer. Add STEM to the equation and the challenges grow. Xueli Wang, a professor of higher education at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, explores those challenges and the way students meet them in On My Own: The Challenge and Promise of Building Equitable STEM Transfer Pathways (Harvard Education Press). The book follows 1,670 community college students for four years as they transfer to four-year institutions.
Quoted: “One thing to keep in mind, particularly during a crisis like this, is that state actors and governors in particular can often just act more swiftly and more nimbly than the federal government can,” University of Wisconsin Law School professor Miriam Seifter said.
Seifter studies administrative law and constitutional law; much of her recent work has focused on the powers of state leaders.
Noted: Boswell bookseller Chris Lee recommends “The Coyotes of Carthage” (Ecco, out April 14), a novel by University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor Steven Wright. Lee called it a “hilarious assessment of dark money campaigns for corporate clients. … Ironies abound in this thing.”
Quoted: Donald Downs, a UW-Madison professor emeritus of political science and expert in civil liberties, said the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed governments leeway to handle major threats and Americans have long been able to tell government about suspected illegal or dangerous activity.
Quoted: A 2015 study of influenza and credit card and mortgage defaults in 83 metro areas found the largest effects were for 90-day defaults, suggesting a flu outbreak has a “disproportionate impact on vulnerable borrowers who are already behind on their payments.”
“And that’s just a regular flu, not a pandemic where you actually are having people sent home before they’re sick,” said J. Michael Collins, one of the study’s authors and professor and director of the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he doesn’t think the agriculture industry has seen the full impact of the pandemic yet.
Quoted: Environmental degradation has already been identified as a cause of the Covid-19 pandemic. China’s wildlife markets—where both live and dead animals are bought and sold in tight quarters—likely allowed viruses to mix across species, creating conditions “ripe for new emerging agents of disease, like Covid-19,” said Jonathan Patz, director of the Global Health Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: According to Marie-Louise Mares, a professor with expertise in children’s media and educational TV at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, having a soothing and dependable set of characters that show friendly, caring behaviors can be very comforting for preschoolers and their parents. “This was part of the appeal of Mister Rogers,” says Mares. “An early study showed that when children were feeling bad (the researcher praised another kid, and not them), they were more likely to choose Mister Rogers than other faster-paced content.”
Noted: One in five Wisconsin workers holds “a poverty wage job with few benefits,” according to a 2018 report from the Center on Wisconsin Strategy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“Social distancing would be a lot less inequality promoting if we had the infrastructure of strong medical care, insurance and housing supports for low-wage workers, but we don’t,” said Laura Dresser, a labor economist and the associate director of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy. “That means that this crisis tends to push the inequality along, instead of the crisis showing how connected we are and pulling us closer together.”
Quoted: For families with young children, University of Wisconsin-Madison educator and family engagement researcher Lorena Mancilla offers advice on how to create spaces and establish routines for learning and working effectively from home.
Trump’s path into politics was based on questioning the legitimacy of government and “the need to prepare for disaster by maintaining a closed society protected from infected outsiders,” University of Wisconsin researchers Thomas Salek and Andrew Cole concluded in a 2018 study of Trump’s use of the Ebola crisis. They said that Trump’s “apocalyptic rhetoric sketched some of the foundational features of his ‘Make America Great Again’ ” platform in the 2016 campaign.
Quoted: “It is a fundamental principle of outbreak control to slow transmission,” said Dr. Patrick Remington, an epidemiologist and professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.
“A lot of times, medical professionals are really focused on making this one decision for the patient who is right in front of them,” says Laura Albert, a systems engineer at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, who was not involved in the study.
Quoted: Loans aren’t taxable but must be repaid, and they can be risky because if you leave your employer you generally have to repay the loan quickly, said J. Michael Collins, director of the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
WHYsconsin has received numerous questions from audience members about COVID-19 and we are working to answer them. Here are the answers to some of those questions you have submitted. WPR’s Mary Kate McCoy spoke with Kristen Bernard, a virology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to answer some of your questions.
Quoted: “This is a moment where misinformation can have real consequences, beyond what we have seen in elections,” says Dhavan Shah, the Louis A. & Mary E. Maier-Bascom professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, director of the university’s Mass Communication Research Center and scientific director of the Center for Health Enhancement System Studies. “This is a moment where misinformation can have life-and-death consequences.”
Quoted: “The wealthy have often done better than the poor when faced with epidemics and pandemics because they tend to be resilient as a function of having greater resources,” says Richard Keller, a professor of medical history and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Coronavirus is something kids are likely to be asking about a lot. When it comes up, Travis Wright, an associate professor of counseling psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he recommends allowing the kids’ questions and concerns to guide the conversation. That way, you won’t inadvertently introduce fears that they didn’t already have.
Also quoted: “They can take over-the-counter medications and they will do just fine,” said Dr. Jeff Pothof, chief quality officer for UW Health. “I know people are worried about our kids. If we’ve got anything going for us, it doesn’t appear that COVID makes children too sick.”
Quoted: “I think it could be an interesting test case for the rest of the country to examine,” University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Barry Burden said of the “terrible trade-off” between holding the election as scheduled and putting it off.
The outbreak could cut the country’s annual gross-domestic-product growth by half, said Ian Coxhead, an economist who studies Asian economies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But he cautioned that making such projections is difficult.
