The Conversation

COVID-19: As offices reopen, here's what to expect if you're worried about getting sick on the job

Written by Elizabeth C. Tippett, Associate Professor, School of Law, University of Oregon

A brave new world. Luis Alvarez/Getty Images

If you’re among the tens of millions of people returning to work or preparing to do so after months sheltering in place, you may be worried it will put you and your family at increased risk of exposure to COVID-19.

The dilemma may be especially stark for the millions of Americans who can expect to...

Should architecturally significant low-income housing be preserved?

Written by Ashima Krishna, Assistant Professor, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York

A 1974 photograph of Buffalo's Shoreline Apartments.George Burns/National Arcvhives at College Park

This past January, in Buffalo, New York, the second phase of demolition for a low-income housing complex called Shoreline Apartments commenced.

The property owner had long wanted to replace the crumbling buildings. Residents also sought a safer and...

Is the COVID-19 pandemic cure really worse than the disease? Here's what our research found

Written by Olga Yakusheva, Associate Professor in Nursing and Public Health, University of Michigan

The economic impact of coronavirus restrictions can also take a human toll.mladenbalinovac via Getty Images

The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work.

The big idea

The coronavirus pandemic catapulted the country into one of the deepest recessions in U.S. history, leaving millions of Americans without jobs or health insurance....

Rare neurological disorder, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, linked to COVID-19

Written by Sherry H-Y. Chou, Associate Professor of Critical Care Medicine, Neurology, and Neurosurgery, University of Pittsburgh

COVID-19 has been linked to neurological problems in those with severe disease.Ralwel / Getty Images

The patient in the case report (let’s call him Tom) was 54 and in good health. For two days in May, he felt unwell and was too weak to get out of bed. When his family finally brought him to the hospital, doctors found that he had a fever and...

There are many leaders of today's protest movement – just like the civil rights movement

Written by Sarah Silkey, Professor of History and Social and Economic Justice, Lycoming College

Demonstrators march in the Black Mamas March to protest police brutality, June 27, 2020 in Washington, D.C. Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images

The recent wave of protests against police brutality and systemic racism has inspired numerous comparisons with the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Commentators frequently depict the charismatic...

Supreme Court reforms, strengthens Electoral College

Written by Morgan Marietta, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Massachusetts Lowell

On Dec. 19, 2016, Colorado elector Micheal Baca, in T-shirt second from left, cast his electoral ballot for John Kasich, though Hillary Clinton had won his state's popular vote.AP Photo/Brennan Linsley

The Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that states can require members of the Electoral College to cast their presidential ballots according to the...

Social isolation: The COVID-19 pandemic's hidden health risk for older adults, and how to manage it

Written by Marcia G. Ory, Regents and Distinguished Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health, Texas A&M University

The same stay-at-home recommendations meant to protect older adults from COVID-19 can also leave them feeling isolated and lonely. Sladic via Getty Images

As coronavirus cases rise again, it can be hard for older adults to see any end to the need for social isolation and the loneliness that can come with it.

For months now, they have been following...

What makes a 'wave' of disease? An epidemiologist explains

Written by Abram L. Wagner, Research Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, University of Michigan

Daily deaths from COVID-19 have rarely been below 600 in the U.S. since March.Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Panic about a second wave of coronavirus cases is “overblown,” Vice President Mike Pence wrote in June, implying the U.S. has COVID-19 under control. On the other hand, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of...

How did 'white' become a metaphor for all things good?

Written by Aradhna Krishna, Dwight F. Benton Professor of Marketing, University of Michigan

'Jacob's Dream' by Salvador Rosa (c. 1665).artuk.org

Shortly after George Floyd’s death, one of my friends texted me that Floyd wasn’t necessarily a bad person, but, pointing to his prior stints in prison, added that “he wasn’t lily-white either.”

Soon thereafter, I read an article in The New York Times written by Chad...

Digital contact tracing's mixed record abroad spells trouble for US efforts to rein in COVID-19

Written by Bhaskar Chakravorti, Dean of Global Business, The Fletcher School, Tufts University

South Korea's success in containing COVID-19 came at the price of sacrificing privacy.AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon

Two public health measures – testing, to identify those infected, and contact tracing, to identify those who may have encountered an infected person – have become essential as countries around the world reopen their economies...