The Conversation

COVID-19 is hitting black and poor communities the hardest, underscoring fault lines in access and care for those on margins

Written by Grace A. Noppert, Postdoctoral Scholar in Epidemiology, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Nurse Shelia Rickman participates in an after-shift demonstration on Monday, April 6, 2020, in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, after media reports of disproportionate numbers of black people dying from COVID-19 in the city. AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast

As the COVID-19 epidemic continues to ravage the American public, an unsurprising story...

How can the houseless fight the coronavirus? A community organization partners with academics to create a grassroots hand-washing infrastructure

Written by Cerianne Robertson, Ph.D. student in Communication, University of Southern California, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism

Natosha, a houseless resident in Los Angeles' Skid Row points to a DIY handwashing station. Pete White/LA CAN, CC BY-ND

The day the governor of California ordered the closure of dine-in restaurant operations, gyms, fitness centers and movie theaters because of the coronavirus, staff members of the Los Angeles Community Action Network, a grassroots...

For asthma patients, the novel coronavirus can be scary. Here's what you need to know

Written by S. Cindy Xi, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Southern California

Hospitals have started using albuterol inhalers with coronavirus patients, making the rescue medication harder for asthma patients to find in some areas.Alan Levine/flickr, CC BY

The new coronavirus’s ability to wreak havoc in the lungs is raising a lot of concerns and questions from my asthma patients. They already know how it feels to have...

Coronavirus research done too fast is testing publishing safeguards, bad science is getting through

Written by Irving Steinberg, Dean for Faculty, USC School of Pharmacy; Associate Professor of Clinical Pharmacy & Pediatrics, School of Pharmacy & Keck School of Medicine of USC; Director, Division of Pediatric Pharmacotherapy, Dept of Pediatrics, LAC+USC

Science is happening fast and mistakes are being made Yagi Studio/ DigitalVision via Getty Images

It has been barely a few weeks since the coronavirus was declared a pandemic. The pace at which the SARS-CoV-2 virus has spread across the globe is jolting, but equally impressive is the speed at which scientists and clinicians have been fighting back....

Here's how Americans coped during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic

Written by Melissa Cyders, Associate Professor of Psychology, IUPUI

Most people felt they were doing OK – with lots of TV and news updates.Erik Mclean/Unsplash, CC BY

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everyday life for Americans. How well are people across the country dealing with the new reality of closed businesses, shuttered schools, social distancing and the threat of the coronavirus itself?

As psychology r...

Coronavirus: Developing economies are getting crushed – here's why their rich neighbors should help them

Written by Rick Rowden, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer, American University School of International Service

Brazil and other developing countries are being hit hard by the pandemic.AP Photo/Andre Penner

The entire global community is now facing the unprecedented triple crisis of a global health pandemic, economic recession and global financial meltdown – and the fates of rich and poor countries have never been so intertwined.

Commodity prices are...

Digital surveillance can help bring the coronavirus pandemic under control – but also threatens privacy

Written by Jennifer Daskal, Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Technology, Law & Security Program, American University

Digital footprints.Prasit photo/Moment via Getty Images

Israel’s top spy agency has been using secretly collected cellphone data to retrace the movements of those who tested positive for the coronavirus.

The Polish government launched the “Home Quarantine” app so that people in quarantine can upload geo-located photos proving...

Visualizing the virus

Written by Colette Gaiter, Professor, Department of Art & Design, University of Delaware

Two illustrators for the CDC created an iconic image that would become ingrained in the minds of millions.Alissa Eckert, Dan Higgins/CDC

As a professor of visual communications, I can’t help but notice all the images of COVID-19 that have been circulating.

You’ve probably seen some version of it: a ball with distinctive spikes that vary...

Why sports still matter – even in a time when you can't actually watch any

Written by Francisco Javier López Frías, Assistant Professor of Kinesiology, Pennsylvania State University

Baseball fans look through a fence of the stadium following the cancellation of a game in Fort Myers, Florida.AP Photo/Elise Amendola

Most of the sports world has ground to a halt over the coronavirus pandemic. The Tokyo Olympic Games, the NBA season, and soccer’s Champions League, along with many other major tournaments, have been postponed....

Overloaded morgues, mass graves and infectious remains: How forensic pathologists handle the coronavirus dead

Written by Ahmad Samarji, Associate Professor of Forensic Science Education & STEM Education and the Assistant Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Phoenicia University

The mortuary in Girona, Spain, one of the countries hardest hit by coronaviurs. Marti Navarro/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Editor’s note: Most scientists and doctors in the coronavirus crisis are working to save the living. Those in the field of forensic pathology, however, focus on the dead.

Ahmad Samarji, a Lebanon-based scholar...