578,555 people have died from COVID-19 in the US, or maybe it's 912,345 – here's why it's hard to count

Record-keepers have a pretty good sense of how many people have died. But figuring out the cause of those deaths is a lot trickier – and that's why reasonable modelers can disagree.

Ronald D. Fricker Jr., Professor of Statistics and Senior Associate Dean, Virginia Tech • conversation
May 24, 2021 • ~8 min

Study: Culture influences mask wearing

In the U.S. and globally, cultures with a high level of collectivism tend to encourage masking during the pandemic.

Peter Dizikes | MIT News Office • mit
May 20, 2021 • ~6 min

Michael Mina shares insight on how to prevent another pandemic

How to stop a pandemic? Spot it early, let the pros spread the news, and engineer the heck out of it.

Alvin Powell • harvard
May 19, 2021 • ~19 min

Pregnancy during COVID-19 lockdown: How the pandemic has affected new mothers

Pregnant women's experiences can affect their babies' health, even into adulthood. Researchers know societywide stresses can lead to these long-term consequences – and the pandemic likely fits the bill.

Alyssa Morris, Ph.D. Student in Clinical Psychology, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences • conversation
May 19, 2021 • ~10 min

Computer science expert reviews a pandemic-stressed internet

The Paulson School’s Jim Waldo assesses how the internet fared during the pandemic and how well it stood up to huge shifts of work, education, and commerce online.

Alvin Powell • harvard
May 18, 2021 • ~17 min

Behind Covid-19 vaccine development

A machine learning model developed jointly by Janssen and MIT data scientists played a key role in the clinical trial process for the J&J-Janssen Covid-19 vaccine.

Terri Park | MIT Schwarzman College of Computing • mit
May 18, 2021 • ~11 min

How to use statistics to prepare for the next pandemic

Many governments, including the US, already collect and make public population statistics that could help them prepare for the next pandemic.

R. Alexander Bentley, Professor of Anthropology, University of Tennessee • conversation
May 18, 2021 • ~6 min

Should my child get the COVID-19 vaccine? 7 questions answered by a pediatric infectious disease expert

The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine was recently approved for adolescents ages 12-15. Vaccination is essential to protect children from serious illness and quicken return to normal life.

Debbie-Ann Shirley, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, University of Virginia • conversation
May 14, 2021 • ~7 min

How America’s partisan divide over pandemic responses played out in the states

States led by Republican governors generally had higher COVID-19 case and death rates in 2020.

Olga Shvetsova, Professor of Political Science and Economics, Binghamton University, State University of New York • conversation
May 12, 2021 • ~9 min

Can schools require COVID-19 vaccines for students now that Pfizer's shot is authorized for kids 12 and up?

Each state has its own rules for which vaccines kids must have to attend school and the reasons students can opt out.

Kristine Bowman, Professor of Law and Education Policy, Michigan State University • conversation
May 10, 2021 • ~8 min

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