UW In The News

The Urgent Battle To Flatten Wisconsin’s COVID-19 Curve

Quoted: “It is a fundamental principle of outbreak control to slow transmission,” said Dr. Patrick Remington, an epidemiologist and professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health.

How to Triage Patients Who Need Intensive Care

“A lot of times, medical professionals are really focused on making this one decision for the patient who is right in front of them,” says Laura Albert, a systems engineer at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, who was not involved in the study.

How to Build an Emergency Fund in the Middle of an Emergency

Quoted: Loans aren’t taxable but must be repaid, and they can be risky because if you leave your employer you generally have to repay the loan quickly, said J. Michael Collins, director of the Center for Financial Security at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Can Pets Contract Or Transmit COVID-19? A Virologist Answers Your Household Pet Questions

WHYsconsin has received numerous questions from audience members about COVID-19 and we are working to answer them. Here are the answers to some of those questions you have submitted. WPR’s Mary Kate McCoy spoke with Kristen Bernard, a virology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to answer some of your questions.

Coronavirus pandemic: 8 ways to stop spread of COVID-19 misinformation

Quoted: “This is a moment where misinformation can have real consequences, beyond what we have seen in elections,” says Dhavan Shah, the Louis A. & Mary E. Maier-Bascom professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, director of the university’s Mass Communication Research Center and scientific director of the Center for Health Enhancement System Studies. “This is a moment where misinformation can have life-and-death consequences.”

Of course the rich are getting tested first. The wealthy always do better during a pandemic.

Quoted: “The wealthy have often done better than the poor when faced with epidemics and pandemics because they tend to be resilient as a function of having greater resources,” says Richard Keller, a professor of medical history and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

How to talk to kids about the coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus is something kids are likely to be asking about a lot. When it comes up, Travis Wright, an associate professor of counseling psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he recommends allowing the kids’ questions and concerns to guide the conversation. That way, you won’t inadvertently introduce fears that they didn’t already have.

Also quoted: “They can take over-the-counter medications and they will do just fine,” said Dr. Jeff Pothof, chief quality officer for UW Health. “I know people are worried about our kids. If we’ve got anything going for us, it doesn’t appear that COVID makes children too sick.”

What Does the Covid-19 Economy Look Like? Chicken Prices Might Hold a Clue.

The outbreak could cut the country’s annual gross-domestic-product growth by half, said Ian Coxhead, an economist who studies Asian economies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But he cautioned that making such projections is difficult.

Wisconsin Bans Crowds Of 10 Or Larger; Order Bars And Restaurants Closed

Quoted: Dr. Patrick Remington, the director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Preventive Medicine Residency Program, said many people who work in the service industry are now “basically unemployed.”

Diabetes And The Coronavirus: An Endocrinologist Answers Your Questions

Quoted: Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Watch compiled your questions and sought answers from Dr. Dawn Davis. She is director of the Comprehensive Diabetes Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and section chief for Endocrinology at the William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital in Madison.

Growing old with autism

Quoted: “Looking at health in older adults with autism can tell us something about the result of a lifetime of the lived experience of being autistic, of the discrimination that comes with being autistic,” says Lauren Bishop, assistant professor of social work at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

‘It feels so final’: UW extends online coursework through spring, announces leave policy

How to use Airbnb, Uber and other apps during coronavirus

Quoted: “We’re saying that social distancing is the only thing that we know of that has the potential to blunt the curve of this pandemic,” says Nasia Safdar, the medical director of infection control at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics.

These Lab Animals Will Help Fight Coronavirus

Dave O’Connor, a pathologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, is working with colleagues to test the usefulness of monkeys in the study of coronavirus treatments. He said that a Chinese group had already published some data on rhesus macaques and he had heard that more results from other labs around the world would be coming soon.

How Saunas Could Boost Your Mental Health

In 2016, Charles Raison, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, published an intriguing study of 30 patients with clinical depression. Half of them rested on a bed while an infrared heat-lamp array raised their body temperature to 101.3 degrees.

US reaches moment of truth on coronavirus

Quoted: “We’re currently in a worrisome situation because this is a disease for which people do not have natural immunity from past exposure, and there’s currently no vaccine and no treatment,” said Vicki Bier, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who specializes in risk analysis for homeland security.

Facebook takedowns reveal sophistication of Russian trolls

Quoted: That report, from University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Young Mie Kim, found that Russia-linked social media accounts are posting about the same divisive issues — race relations, gun laws and immigration — as they did in 2016, when the Kremlin polluted American voters’ feeds with messages about the presidential election. Facebook has since removed those accounts as well.

These Six States Could Determine the 2020 Presidential Election

Quoted: “The Electoral College creates these strange incentives for campaigns to ignore most of the country and pour their attention into a small number of places,” Barry Burden, a professor of political science and director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told Newsweek.

Ideal Glass Would Explain Why Glass Exists at All

The hidden long-range order of this putative state could rival the more obvious orderliness of a crystal. “That observation right there was at the heart of why people thought there should be an ideal glass,” said Mark Ediger, a chemical physicist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

UW-Madison moving to online instruction amid COVID-19 coronavirus uncertainty

Russia Trying to Stoke U.S. Racial Tensions Before Election, Officials Say

Independent researchers continue to identify social media accounts with Russian links. Race was among the top issues that such accounts tried to foster division over, said Young Mie Kim, a University of Wisconsin professor who studies political communication online. Others included nationalism, immigration, gun control and gay rights.

What Are The Telltale Signs Of A Department Layoff?

If you want to know if your job is in jeopardy, consider whether management has laid people off recently, said Charlie Trevor, a professor of management and human resources at the University of Wisconsin–Madison school of business.

In Human Nature, Crispr’s Origin Story Comes to Life

Noted: There’s no doubt Human Nature will contribute to improving the public’s literacy about Crispr, including the differences between editing cells that can pass down those changes to future generations (germline cells, like sperm, ova, and embryos) and ones that can’t (somatic cells, or those from other body tissues). That’s critical for the future of the technology, says Alta Charo, a bioethicist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who appears in the film for her work on the National Academy of Sciences’ reports on the ethics of gene editing.

Review: Waiting for wounds to heal and ‘Real Life’ to begin

Wallace is a graduate student at an unnamed large Midwestern university (Taylor holds a degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison).

UW-Madison health researcher gives advice on fighting coronavirus

I’m not an expert on the COVID-19 virus by any stretch, but I study epidemics and have general knowledge and training that is applicable. Here are my thoughts on what’s happening and what we should do.

With Childhood Diabetes, Close Family Ties Lead to Flourishing Adults

Carol Ryff, director of the Institute on Aging at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, who developed the scales of wellbeing used to assess flourishing, called the study a “model of innovative health science for the future” and a “breath of fresh air.”

Report: Russian Social Accounts Sow Election Discord-Again

The report from University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Young Mie Kim found that Russia-linked social media accounts are posting about the same divisive issues — race relations, gun laws and immigration — as they did in 2016, when the Kremlin polluted American voters’ feeds with messages about the presidential election.

The Rise of Location Trackers for Kids as Young as 3

Quoted: This is not to say that smartwatches for kids don’t have any benefits. As Heather Kirkorian, associate professor of| human development and family studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said that, for example, their texting and phone call functionality can be useful in a world where pay phones aren’t available the way they used to be.

2020 Democratic Primary Turnout Is a Problem

Quoted: Barry Burden, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin who studies voter turnout, says Trump’s huge levels of support defy historical trends about sitting presidents who run for reelection. “A sitting incumbent running for reelection — that shouldn’t stimulate much interest,” Burden says. “It all runs a little contrary to what I think we would’ve expected.”

Newell Brands Is Investigated by SEC

Quoted: “The goodwill impairment test is one of the most second guessed of the accounting tests that exist,” said Thomas Linsmeier, professor of accounting and law, University of Wisconsin-Madison.