Maxwell School News and Commentary

In a choice between basic necessities, often, food is the first expense to be slashed, a decision that can result in adverse health effects for high-risk people. "This could put a further strain on the non-COVID health care system," says Colleen Heflin, professor of public administration and international affairs.

"I thought at some point, reality would come back in for people and they would have a hard time balancing their motivations to stay consistent with their partisanship with what's going on on the ground," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.  "That was wholly optimistic on my part."

"It’s not just the rural health care infrastructure that becomes overwhelmed when there aren’t enough hospital beds, it’s also the surrounding neighborhoods, the suburbs, the urban hospital infrastructure starts to become overwhelmed as well," says Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion.

“There’s no doubt that we are not going back to the way it was. There will be a—quote unquote—new normal," says Catherine Gerard, associate director of Executive Education, about the short- and long-term effects of the novel coronavirus pandemic. “This has been an incredible disruption,” University Professor Sean O’Keefe said. “This disruptive change is having a global consequence.”

“We were fortunate to have some experience with online education prior to the pandemic. Our work with the online executive master of public administration and other online training programs enabled an easier transition,” says Steven Lux, director of the Executive Education Program.

"If you are someone who already trusts the president and you trust him to handle the crisis, then you are both not as concerned as Democrats are and you're more willing to trust that he is the person who can keep you safe and keep the country safe from COVID," says Shana Gadarian, associate professor of political science.

"If we want people to feel comfortable enough to go back out to bars and restaurants, to travel, and to send their kids to school, we need to see a decline in cases, and people need to feel confident that their peers will behave responsibly for the greater good," says Shannon Monnat, Lerner Chair for Public Health Promotion.