Is the slow approach to reopening schools failing kids?

Harvard Chan School’s Joseph Allen gives America an “F” on school reopening efforts, and says we’re in danger of losing thousands of virtual dropouts and wasting mild late summer/early autumn weather we could use to boost in-person learning.

---

Tags: education covid-19 coronavirus schools health-medicine alvin-powell harvard-th-chan-school-of-public-health joseph-allen reopening ventilation hepa-filter colleges mask

Study offers clues to how climate affected 1918 pandemic

A new study of ice-core data shows that an unusual, six-year period of cold temperatures and heavy rainfall coincided with European deaths during the 1918 Spanish flu.

---

Tags: science-technology history environments-sustainability alvin-powell michael-mccormick spanish-flu rainfall world-war-i alexander-more initiative-for-the-science-of-the-human-past long-island-university nottingham-university paul-mayewski university-of-maine

Harvard journal keeps data scientists connected during COVID

Data science provides a foundation for an important front in the battle against COVID-19. The Harvard Data Science Review, a journal of the Harvard Data Science Initiative, is helping keep data scientists connected and up to date on the latest findings.

---

Tags: science-technology covid-19 inequality data-science alvin-powell bias francesca-dominici harvard-data-science-initiative harvard-data-science-review xiao-li-meng

How to build trust in a COVID vaccine

A public campaign to build trust may be needed if a successful vaccine candidate is to be taken by enough Americans to interrupt the COVID pandemic, a Harvard public health expert said.

---

Tags: covid-19 coronavirus pandemic health-medicine alvin-powell the-forum-at-harvard-th-chan-school-of-public-health vaccine barry-bloom anti-vaxxers new-england-journal-of-medicine glen-nowak vaccine-skepticism walter-orenstein

F-1 Doctors help international students to U.S. med schools

A Harvard Medical School student from Tanzania is working to help other international students navigate the process of getting into a U.S. medical school.

---

Tags: harvard-medical-school health-medicine alvin-powell application azan-virji f-1-doctors international-student medical-student zach-zhao

MEDscience program finds benefits to videoconferencing approach

Students from as far away as Africa and Asia are benefiting from a COVID-prompted shift online of an HMS program that gives high schoolers a taste of life in the exam room.

---

Tags: covid-19 harvard-medical-school health-medicine alvin-powell medical-education julie-joyal medscience nancy-oriol remote-learning secondary-education

A closer look at America’s pandemic-fueled anger

The anger you’re seeing in the nation and your neighborhood — call it pandemic rage — is not in your imagination, according to a McLean hospital psychologist, who explains where it comes from and how to fight it.

---

Tags: mental-health covid-19 coronavirus pandemic harvard-medical-school health-medicine alvin-powell mclean-hospital david-h-rosmarin anger domestic-violence violence

Cheap, frequent COVID tests could be ‘akin to vaccine,’ professor says

Shifting the U.S.'s COVID-19 testing strategy to emphasize inexpensive, daily tests would break national transmission chains within weeks, an infectious disease testing expert said.

---

Tags: covid-19 coronavirus test harvard-medical-school health-medicine brigham-and-womens-hospital alvin-powell harvard-th-chan-school-of-public-health michael-mina center-for-communicable-disease-dynamics paper-strip-test

There are 5 easy steps to tame COVID-19, says Fauci

Anthony Fauci, one of the government’s top authorities on the coronavirus pandemic, said that simple measures including wearing masks, avoiding bars, and spending time outdoors can tame the pandemic, but only if widely adopted.

---

Tags: covid-19 coronavirus health-medicine alvin-powell harvard-th-chan-school-of-public-health michelle-williams larry-bacow anthony-fauci

Is it time to resume COVID restrictions in some safe states?

Officials in states that appear to have COVID-19 under control should keep an eye on a slow rise in cases, and take the chance to enact modest measures before case numbers begin to rise rapidly again, a Harvard expert said.

---

Tags: covid-19 coronavirus health-medicine alvin-powell harvard-th-chan-school-of-public-health harvard-global-health-institute ashish-jha school-opening