News

The FDA has issued several novel coronavirus tests, but the tests are often time-consuming and sometimes inaccurate— failing to meet the urgent need to quickly identify and isolate infected people.

A new, three-year study led by Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sacoby Wilson and Assistant Professor of Urban Planning Marccus Hendricks will analyze the impact that exposure to environmental contaminants associated with natural disasters has on vulnerable communities. 

The racism and discrimination that Black people regularly experience gained wider recognition after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer shook the world in June 2020. The stress and trauma associated with experiencing racism and violence has negative impacts on health, particularly among young Black men.

Dina Borzekowski is a research professor in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health that travels the globe for her work in the area of children, media and health. COVID-19 thwarted Dina's usual non-stop international travel and allowed her time at home to increase her flock.

In nearly every state around the country, data show that Blacks and Latinos are more than three times as likely to get infected with COVID-19 and are more than twice as likely to die than their white neighbors. Communities of color experience discrimination, higher rates of chronic disease, and less access to health care in general. On top of this, they are more likely to be exposed to the virus through essential jobs and crowded living conditions.

In this year of the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions—like every other segment of society—have been forced to make critical decisions about when to reopen that could have significant health and financial implications. And because of the unprecedented nature of the pandemic, these decisions are being made with limited information, constrained resources and no reliable road map.