Author: TheConversation

By Thomas A. Russo, Professor and Chief, Infectious Disease, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York “WE ARE STILL IN A PANDEMIC,” Denver Black Lives Matter activist Tay Anderson shouted in capital letters on Twitter as he urged everyone who has protested police violence in recent days to join him in getting tested for the coronavirus. Crowds of people, many maskless and yelling, can pose a health risk to one another in the middle of a pandemic. One of the greatest threats is that people may be spreading the disease...

By Seema Mohapatra, Associate Professor of Law and Dean’s Fellow, IUPUI As the COVID-19 crisis wreaks havoc across the globe, a handful of countries, including Germany, Chile and the United States, are mulling the use of immunity passports to make clear who is immune from coronavirus infection. Several U.S. companies are also examining ways of testing employees, including for COVID-19 antibodies, before allowing them to return to the office. People cleared from infection would enjoy certain privileges like traveling internationally or working outside their homes. Other scenarios envision a more limited use, such as screening which hospital employees should...

By Carli Liguori, Instructor of Nutrition and Behavior Change, University of Pittsburgh Have you noticed grabbing an extra bag of chips at the supermarket? Or eating more frozen dinners than you used to? Or even eating snacks that you have not eaten since you were a little kid? The COVID-19 pandemic has upended nearly every facet of our daily lives, from how we dress, to how we work, to how we exercise. It is also changing the way we eat. As a registered dietitian and nutrition researcher, I am fascinated by the types of food people are buying during...

By Shannon M. Smith, Associate Professor of History, College of Saint Benedict & Saint John’s University White supremacist and militia organizations are exploiting the government’s chaotic response to the coronavirus for recruitment efforts. Whatever his intention, these groups interpret President Donald Trump’s tweets to “LIBERATE” states and calling armed protesters “very good people” as support for their cause. Recent research by the Tech Transparency Project into social media accounts of white supremacists, a nonprofit that researches “the influence of the major technology platforms” on politics, policy and people’s lives, found that “some members of private … Facebook groups reacted...