Media Coverage

The Presidential Election on Nov. 3 will occur during a global outbreak of the COVID-19 virus. Election officials are scrambling to prepare an election that is safe for voters and poll workers in addition to being effective, equitable and accessible. One of the greatest challenges currently facing officials is that many polling locations used for elections are in cramped building spaces that are not equipped for social distancing, possibly leading to a reduced number of voting booths and long voter waiting times.

Five years ago, a team of researchers challenged the conventional wisdom that the fastest-moving line is a single “pooled” line. Instead, the researchers found, splitting the pool into individual lines made them move faster. Now new research from a member of the same team explores why this is so—and where multiple lines or single lines make the most sense.

Every Monday this fall, we’re taking a look at how schools are using technology during the pandemic. And for some, it’s an opportunity to make changes to teaching that have been in the works for a long time. Specifically, personalized learning — the idea that kids all learn at different paces and in different ways, and that curriculums can be tailored to a child’s learning style using artificial intelligence to monitor their progress and modify lessons on the fly. 

Non-pharmaceutical interventions such as voluntary shelter-in-place, quarantines, and other steps taken to control the novel coronavirus can reduce the peak number of infections, daily infection rates, and overall deaths, say researchers, "High compliance with voluntary quarantine, where the entire household stays home if there is a person with symptoms or risk of exposure in the household has a significant impact on reducing the spread," said study author Pinar Keskinocak from Georgia Institute of Technology in the US.

After shelves were emptied of goods like toilet paper, canned food and hand sanitizer at the start of the pandemic, Chicago-area grocery stores and suppliers are stocking up to avert shortages as coronavirus cases rise in Illinois. On Thursday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a 10 p.m. curfew on all nonessential city businesses and a prohibition on indoor service at bars without food licenses. Gov. J.B. Pritzker also announced stricter rules for some counties, including DuPage, Kane, Will and Kankakee.