As governors relaxed stay-at-home orders and people ventured out in recent days, the number of new reported cases of COVID-19 has surged again, reaching a single-day record on Sunday, according to the World Health Organization. Between Jan. 20 and July 1 of this year there have been 2,573,393 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 126,573 deaths in the U.S., according to WHO data.
Should a college football season take place, one Big Ten professor expects tragedy. Dr. Sheldon Jacobson, a computer science professor at the University of Illinois, told CBS Sports that if the roughly 13,000 FBS players return to their respective campuses as scheduled, he projects that 30 to 50 percent of players will contract COVID-19 this season – and three to seven players will die.
On June 30, 21,416 COVID-19 tests were performed in the state of Connecticut. Only 152 came back positive. This represented a remarkable turnaround for a state that regularly saw more than 1,000 new cases a day in April. We asked Prof. Edward Kaplan, an operations and modeling expert who has extensively studied the spread of the disease in the state, what Connecticut has gotten right—and what risks still remain.
The coronavirus pandemic appears to be receding, public officials have proudly announced entry into a phased reopening. Observing the death and physical suffering the illness has brought to so many, little needs to be said to prove the seriousness of the threat that COVID-19 poses. Nor is there doubt that by nearly all accounts the draconian lockdown measures deserve the lion’s share of credit for slowing its initial wildfire spread. Yet, in many areas, where close to two months without significant spread have renewed many people’s comfort in resuming regular activities, many are prepared to move beyond curbside pickup and gatherings at a six-foot distance.
Colleges and universities in the U.S. face a difficult choice in the coming weeks. Some have decided that closing their campuses and offering online classes is the safest option. For others, the safer and more responsible alternative may be to allow students to return while putting in place a comprehensive virus-screening program that minimizes the risk of transmission. Contingent on New York state’s approval, we will be opening Cornell for residential instruction this fall.
Jeff Cohen
Chief Strategy Officer
INFORMS
Catonsville, MD
[email protected]
443-757-3565
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With seemingly no limit to the demand for artificial intelligence, everyone in the energy, AI, and climate fields is justifiably worried. Will there be enough clean electricity to power AI and enough water to cool the data centers that support this technology? These are important questions with serious implications for communities, the economy, and the environment.
It’s college graduation season, which means over 4 million seniors will graduate in the next few weeks, flooding the job market with new candidates. One area that has shown high potential for the right candidates is artificial intelligence and machine learning. Both disciplines are part of the larger data and analytics career path.
Drugs being explicitly developed to treat rare diseases are getting more expensive.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as the new secretary of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s de facto healthcare czar. He will have influence over numerous highly visible agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, among others. Given that healthcare is something that touches everyone’s life, his footprint of influence will be expansive.
The recent US-China agreement to temporarily reduce tariffs is a major step for global trade, with tariffs on US goods entering China dropping from 125% to 10% and on Chinese goods entering the US decreasing from 145% to 30% starting May 14. While this has boosted markets and created optimism, key industries like autos and steel remain affected, leaving businesses waiting for clearer long-term trade policies.
With sweeping new tariffs on Chinese-made products set to take effect this summer, Americans are being urged to prepare for price hikes on everyday goods. President Donald Trump's reinstated trade policies are expected to affect a wide swath of consumer imports, including electronics, furniture, appliances, and baby gear. Retail experts are advising shoppers to act before the tariffs hit and prices rise.
Twenty years ago, few people would have been able to imagine the energy landscape of today. In 2005, US oil production, after a long decline, had fallen to its lowest levels in decades, and few experts thought that would change.
In the case of upgrading electrical and broadband infrastructure, new analysis from the University of Massachusetts Amherst reveals {that a} “dig once” strategy is almost 40% more economical than changing them individually.