UCLA In the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. Some articles may require registration or a subscription to view. See more UCLA In the News.
Every minute counts in the coronavirus fight | CNN
“Countries that have not deployed rapid social distancing measures, that have been very extreme in nature, are suffering the same thing that Italy has suffered. We in the United States, having had major testing failures, not being able to ramp up quickly, to test people, to employ social distancing measures, are far behind the curve. I think we will be going in the same direction as Italy,” said UCLA’s Dr. Anne Rimoin. (Rimoin was also interviewed by KTLA-TV.)
Bans raise religious freedom questions | Associated Press
Religious organizations could make a constitutional claim to being singled out by a law that treats secular activity differently, said Eugene Volokh, a UCLA Law School professor and First Amendment expert. “But if you’re just imposing the same burden on everybody, for reasons completely unrelated to religiosity of the behavior, that is likely to be permissible even” under state-level religious freedom laws, he said.
How long can the economy survive businesses’ sheltering in place? | Los Angeles Times
“The longer this disruption goes on, the more likely it will have a permanent effect,” said Roger Farmer, an economics professor at UCLA and the University of Warwick in England. “Three weeks we can bounce back from, three months is not so clear.” (UCLA’s Edward Leamer is also quoted.)
Distance learning may exacerbate academic inequities | Los Angeles Daily News
Pedro Noguera, a professor at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education, said effects of the coronavirus are likely to exacerbate existing inequalities between affluent and low-income students. “We already knew there were lots of families across California that don’t have access to internet or computers at home,” he said. “So at the time we’re relying on schools and universities to utilize virtual learning, it places certain populations at a disadvantage because they don’t have access.”
New urgency to help homeless people | Los Angeles Times
“I see one scenario where this virus mercifully dodges the homeless population or another scenario where it hits the homeless population quite hard,” said Randall Kuhn, a professor at UCLA’s department of community health sciences. “Everyone is obviously facing a serious situation. Everyone is becoming increasingly aware of how serious it is — but it is still abstract.”
NBA reacts to criticism of players getting tested | Los Angeles Times
Dr. Jonathan Fielding, a professor of health policy and management at UCLA who served as the public health director and a health officer for Los Angeles County for 16 years, thinks another ethical issue on the horizon could be a bigger deal. “That is certainly an issue,” Fielding said of the reaction to NBA players being tested despite a shortage of testing kits. “If we had to ration tests that would really be a big issue, but it was more kind of hit or miss, it was a limited amount of tests available and it just happens to be who you know.…”
I’m sick; how do I know if it’s the coronavirus? | KQED-FM
A typical bout of COVID-19 ranges from a few days to a few weeks. If you’re exposed to the bug you might not feel sick for up to 14 days. The tricky part is that this year’s flu causes very similar symptoms. “It’s going to be very difficult to distinguish those two infections without any type of actual testing,” said Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, adjunct professor of epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, on KQED “Forum.”
How long can coronavirus survive on hard surfaces? | NPR’s “All Things Considered”
The new study looked at the novel coronavirus in a laboratory setting and found the virus can survive for up to 72 hours on stainless steel and plastic surfaces, and on cardboard up to 24 hours. Jamie Lloyd-Smith of UCLA is one of the authors. “We’re talking about potentially days of infectivity on some of these surfaces,” said Lloyd-Smith.
Many outdoor activities remain open — with rules | Orange County Register
Dr. Matthew Waxman, associate clinical professor of emergency medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, said it’s important to continue to get fresh air and sunshine. “I think it’s a wonderful place to be,” said Waxman, who specializes in tropical medicine and hygiene. “I personally went for a long run yesterday. Really, no one was out there.”
Hospitals bracing for a wave of patients | Los Angeles Times
But, said Otto Yang, an infectious disease expert at UCLA, the hard truth remains that “we don’t know how many cases we are going to see in the next days or weeks.” Yang and other experts said the expected surge is best viewed as the result of the failure to test for the virus in the early days of its outbreak in the U.S., leaving many undetected cases that will soon pop into official counts as they become serious enough for treatment.
Northern California adjusts to lockdown | Globe and Mail
Economists at University of California, Los Angeles warned on Monday that the widespread hit to businesses and trade from the coronavirus would almost certainly tip the United States into a recession – with California particularly hard hit. They estimated the state could lose more than 280,000 jobs, pushing the unemployment rate to 6.3 per cent this year, from below 4 per cent last year. “If the pandemic is much worse than assumed, this forecast will be too optimistic,” economists with UCLA’s Anderson School of Management wrote. (Also: City News Service)
How to help contain the coronavirus | KPCC-FM’s “AirTalk”
“There’s a new study out of China on age 1- to 16-year-olds. It did show a few things of note. One is that about 5% of the group — these were all kids who were tested positive and were known to have COVID —and about 5% of them were asymptomatic. They had no symptoms, but they tested positive,” said UCLA’s Dr. David Eisenman (approx. 3:00 mark).
$3.9 million grant for study on how cannabis chemicals can help with pain | Scienmag
Ziva Cooper, research director of the UCLA Cannabis Research Initiative, has been awarded a $3.9 million grant from the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health at the NIH to study whether cannabis chemicals called terpenes can reduce the amount of opioid medication a person needs to reduce pain. The award, which will be administered over five years, will also allow Cooper to study how terpenes and tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the primary psychoactive chemical in cannabis, interact with one another, commonly referred to as the entourage effect.
Vaping’s popularity soars as data points to heart risks | HealthDay News
Meanwhile, two studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, found that vaping might not be as harmless as some people think. In fact, it may increase heart disease risk by causing oxidative stress, a process that can trigger cell damage, researchers said. “Elevated oxidative stress in otherwise healthy young people who vape may predict increased risk for premature cardiovascular disease,” said Dr. Holly Middlekauff, a UCLA cardiologist who led both studies.