COVID-19

Todd Decker and Kelly Daniel-Decker launched the Department of Music’s new “Musical Postcards” video series with an intimate living room performance of the Gershwin classic “Love is Here to Stay.”

As the coronavirus continues to spread across the nation, a number of false conclusions and rumors have spread with it. Three epidemiologists in public health at Washington University in St. Louis separate the truth from myth.

FUSE, our website for innovation and entrepreneurship, is highlighting examples of WashU faculty, alumni and students who are doing what they can to help and serve those directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many countries reacted slowly and inadequately to the spread of COVID-19. Some critics have said this is due to initial reports of the disease, which indicated that it mainly affected older populations. “Older adults are not some kind of expendable commodity,” said Nancy Morrow-Howell, the Betty Bofinger Brown Distinguished Professor of Social Policy at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and an international leader in gerontology.

At a time when the world is focused on a global health pandemic, Brian Carpenter, a professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, says it may be difficult to grieve for and memorialize an individual. But we must.

The $2 trillion plan to prop up a pandemic-reeling United States, amid the news that there were 3.3 million unemployment claims lodged in the previous week, is expected to pass the House on March 27. An array of Washington University in St. Louis experts offer perspectives on the plan.

The task was as Herculean as it was heartbreaking: Pack and ship some 2,000 boxes of books, computers, medications and other essentials to Washington University students across the globe. 

As the coronavirus spreads across the United States, larger cities, like New York and Seattle, are dealing with increasing numbers of infections and deaths daily. However, less populated rural areas are not immune from the disease, say two public health experts at Washington University in St. Louis, and controlling it in rural America presents a unique set of challenges.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to plenty of uncertainty. Tim Bono, assistant dean in Arts & Sciences and a lecturer in psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, offers tips for managing parts of life that are still under our control.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and elsewhere are investigating whether transfusions of blood plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 can prevent or treat the disease. The approach was used with some success during the 1918 influenza pandemic.