Author: TheConversation

No Sick Leave: Why health care aides in nursing homes are forced to work after exposure to COVID-19

No Sick Leave: Why health care aides in nursing homes are forced to work after exposure to COVID-19

Posted by | Dec 2, 2020 |

By Shefali Milczarek-Desai, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and Director of the Immigrant Workers’ Rights Clinic, UA James E. Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona; and Tara Sklar, Professor of Health Law and Director, Health Law & Policy Program, University of Arizona The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated America’s nursing homes, but the reasons why are not as simple as people might think. To understand how nursing homes became the source of over one-third of U.S. COVID-19 deaths, you have to look beyond just the vulnerability of the residents and examine how nursing homes pay and manage their employees....

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Morality and COVID-19: Why some individuals continue to ignore rules about wearing face masks

Morality and COVID-19: Why some individuals continue to ignore rules about wearing face masks

Posted by | Dec 2, 2020 |

By Eugene Y. Chan, Associate Professor, Purdue University Governments around the world have recommended or mandated various behaviors to slow the spread of COVID-19. These include staying at home, wearing face masks and practicing social distancing. Yet individuals continue to flout these recommendations and ignore explicit rules about wearing face masks. In the U.S., U.K. and Australia, crowds have gathered closely together to protest against lockdowns. All this poses the question: Why are people not following the rules that protect not only their own health but the health of their community and nation? And how can policymakers and public...

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Ruby Bridges: The school that once symbolized desegregation now reflects a public education battle

Ruby Bridges: The school that once symbolized desegregation now reflects a public education battle

Posted by | Dec 1, 2020 |

By Connie L. Schaffer, Associate Professor of Teacher Education, University of Nebraska Omaha; Martha Graham Viator, Associate Professor Emeritus of Education, Rowan University; and Meg White, Associate Professor of Education, Stockton University On November 14, 1960, after a long summer and autumn of volleys between the Louisiana Legislature and the federal courts, Ruby Bridges, a 6-year-old Black girl, was allowed to enroll in an all-white school. Accompanied by federal marshals, Bridges entered William Frantz Public School – a small neighborhood school in New Orleans’ Upper Ninth Ward. If that building’s walls could talk, they certainly would tell the well-known...

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Buying a Dream: How the economy became overly dependent on consumerism prior to COVID-19

Buying a Dream: How the economy became overly dependent on consumerism prior to COVID-19

Posted by | Nov 28, 2020 |

By Halina Szejnwald Brown, Professor Emerita, Clark University The COVID-19 pandemic has radically affected the American economy, reducing spending by American households on materials goods, air travel, leisure activities as well as the use of automobiles. As a result, greenhouse gas emissions have temporarily fallen dramatically. While this may be a positive for the environment, the social price is high: Since the U.S. economy depends heavily on consumer spending, the country is experiencing the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression, the threat of homelessness for tens of thousands of people and a failure of businesses large and small....

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Federal segregation policies from the early 20th century damaged Black communities for decades

Federal segregation policies from the early 20th century damaged Black communities for decades

Posted by | Nov 27, 2020 |

By Guo Xu, Assistant Professor of Business and Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley; Abhay Aneja, Assistant Professor of Law, University of California, Berkeley Economic disparities in earnings, health and wealth between Black and white Americans are staggeringly large. Historical government practices and institutions – such as segregated schools, redlined neighborhoods and discrimination in medical care – have contributed to these wide disparities. While these causes may not always be overt, they can have lasting negative effects on the prosperity of minority communities. Abhay Aneja and I are researchers at University of California, Berkeley, who specialize in examining the...

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Myth of the monolithic Latino Vote: Pollsters failed to anticipate diverse views based on national origins

Myth of the monolithic Latino Vote: Pollsters failed to anticipate diverse views based on national origins

Posted by | Nov 24, 2020 |

By Lisa García Bedolla, Vice Provost for Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate Division, Professor of Education, University of California, Berkeley Pundits have expressed surprise that so many Latinos voted for Donald Trump. But pollsters who specialize in the Latino vote knew for months before the election that Latino support for Biden was soft, with many Latinos – especially in Florida – undecided. In Florida 57% of Latinos ultimately supported Biden, compared to roughly 70% nationwide. These numbers are reliable because they come from exit polls designed to capture Latino political preferences. National exit polls have been mostly...

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