University of Arizona in the News

ABC's Good Morning America Wednesday
Spending Thanksgiving alone this year? Here are 5 tips to combat loneliness

"What many people are going to experience this year, for a variety of reasons, is that their holiday table is not going to be as full as it normally is," said Kory Floyd, an author and professor of interpersonal communication at the University of Arizona. "Many American households are going to experience a sense of deprivation this year."
CBS News Tuesday
Nearly 7 million Americans at risk of eviction when moratoriums expire Dec. 31

Millions of Americans are in danger of losing their homes when federal and local limits on evictions expire at the end of the year. A new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the University of Arizona estimates that 6.7 million people could be evicted in the coming months. That would approach the number of people who lost their homes to foreclosure during the 2008 financial crisis and ensuing recession.
The Conversation Tuesday
Testing sewage can give school districts, campuses and businesses a heads-up on the spread of COVID-19

University of Arizona professors Charles Gerba and Robert Glennon write that wastewater-based epidemiology, which tests raw sewage, has an important role to play in mitigating the spread of COVID-19. Studies have shown that testing wastewater offers an early warning signal that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, is present in a community.
The New York Times Tuesday
A detailed map of where Americans are staying home for Thanksgiving

Public health officials have been pleading with Americans to stay home this year for Thanksgiving. And, despite busy airports this past weekend, most people plan to follow their advice, according to a huge survey asking Americans about their holiday plans. Early in the pandemic, there was a minimal partisan split on public health advice, said Samara Klar, an associate professor of political science at the University of Arizona. But she noted that diverging messages from political leaders have been mirrored by splits in support for public health measures and self-reported mask wearing. Thanksgiving plans seem to fit that broader pattern.
The New York Times Tuesday
Watching what goes down our toilets could help keep a pandemic from spiraling out of control

Cities and universities across the world are looking into using wastewater-based epidemiology to track the spread of COVID-19. Ian Pepper, director of the WEST Center and a BIO5 Institute member, is leading a study that uses municipal wastewater to monitor the incidence of the virus in communities across the United States. In August, the University of Arizona used this process to identify and successfully quarantine two asymptomatic students during the first week of classes.
The Washington Post Monday
A geneticist's dilemma

A growing number of scientists believe that the cure for disease can be found in our DNA. But that poses a unique problem for some Native Americans. Led by the National Institutes of Health, the All of Us Research Program aims to collect medical and genetic data from 1 million Americans by around 2025. To ensure that the benefits of this research go to every American, All of Us has been actively recruiting participants from racial and ethnic minorities. At NIH, this diverse recruitment drive is seen as part of a progressive, trailblazing vision that will bring medical insight to communities that have historically been overlooked and underfunded, including Native American tribal nations.
The New York Times Monday
A new analysis shows how political divisions impacted attitudes toward restrictions

In a new analysis, a team of researchers provided some of the first hard evidence of how the political divide drove behavior amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The research team, led by James Druckman, a political scientist at Northwestern University, found that the average Democrat "is more worried, is more likely to have changed behaviors and is more supportive of policies to stop the spread of infections than the average Republican," although there were substantial overlaps in attitudes. The research team, which included Samara Klar from the University of Arizona and scientists from Stony Brook University and the University of Pennsylvania, determined that in the hardest hit areas, these differences shrank.
The Conversation Monday
Why nursing home aides exposed to COVID-19 aren’t taking sick leave

University of Arizona professors Shefali Milczarek-Desai and Tara Sklar write that in order to understand how nursing homes became the source of more than one-third of U.S. COVID-19 deaths, you have to look beyond just the vulnerability of the residents and examine how nursing homes pay and manage their employees.
ABC's Good Morning America Monday
With politics and a pandemic keeping families apart, here's how to keep peace at Thanksgiving

With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advising Americans not to travel for Thanksgiving, experts say the holiday is also creating new conflict between family members with different ideas about how to celebrate safely. "The truth is conflict happens every year for families, and that can make holidays so stress-inducing because people know that potential is there," said Kory Floyd, an author and professor of interpersonal communication at the University of Arizona. "Add to that the stresses of the pandemic and the stresses of the national election, and it can be very tough."
Slate Nov. 22, 2020
So you're flying this Thanksgiving? Here's which parts are the riskiest.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control advised Americans against traveling for Thanksgiving, though it stopped short of issuing a mandate to that effect, and the warning may have come late enough that many won’t change their plans. "The airport is where all the bad behavior happens," said Saskia Popescu, an epidemiology professor at the University of Arizona, based on her own experiences flying during the pandemic. "When we have been talking about traveling, we've been so focused on the airplane – understandably, it's a small enclosed space – but we can't just focus on one piece of the travel process. It has to be the entire thing."