Schooling and Sickness: Your News in Brief

CSU School System Goes Virtual for Fall

On May 12, Chancellor Timothy White of the California State University (CSU) system announced to the CSU Board of Trustees that virtual learning will become the “new normal” for the rest of 2020. 

The CSU system has 23 campuses across the state of California with roughly 500,000 students enrolled. It is the first large university system to commit to what classes will look like this coming fall.

While almost all classes will only be offered online, some exceptions will be made depending on the type of class. These include classes and labs that require hands-on learning for nursing and science students, as well as classes that needed access to unique facilities like performing arts classes. 

White acknowledged that the university system does not have the resources to widely test students for COVID-19 and implement contact tracing techniques if an outbreak were to appear on campus. 

As of right now, the CSU system has projected losses of $337 million from this spring alone. This includes lost revenue from student housing as well as unexpected costs stemming from the sudden switch to virtual learning. 

The university system has not released any information about if they project to lose this same amount during the fall. 

Powell Warns of Continued Recession From Pandemic

On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell presented the grim possibility that the current pandemic will cause lasting economic damage and a prolonged recession.

While relief programs like the Paycheck Protection Program may be costly, Powell said it would be worth considering additional emergency aid to prevent long-term economic damage. He urged Congress and the White House to act quickly.

Republican leaders in Congress have expressed skepticism about approving significant increases in spending right now. Trump administration officials have said they want to first see how previous aid packages affect the economy. Powell, though, voiced his concern that a recession may last long enough to cause extensive damage to the economy and make recovery slower. In such a scenario, unemployed workers would lose skills and their connections in the job market, making it harder for them to find new employment. And with many small businesses bankrupt, fewer companies would be available to hire the jobless. 

Powell’s sobering warning about the risks facing the economy weighed down Wall Street on Wednesday. The S&P 500 stock index was down a sharp 2.4 percent as of 3 p.m. Eastern time, with the deepest losses hitting stocks that most need a healthy economy for their profits to grow. 

Thousands Continue to Get Sick at Work

As President Donald Trump encourages the reopening of the economy by allowing people to get back to work, thousands of people are at an increased risk of contracting COVID-19 on the job.

Recent figures show a surge of infections in prisons, meatpacking and poultry-processing plants. Of the 15 U.S. counties with the highest per-capita infection rates between April 28 and May 5, all are homes to meatpacking and poultry-processing plants or state prisons, according to data compiled by the Associated Press.

The county with the highest per-capita rate was Tennessee’s Trousdale County, where nearly 1,300 inmates and 50 staffers recently tested positive at the privately run Trousdale Turner Correctional Center. 

Also hard hit by recent infections are counties in Minnesota, Indiana and Virginia where other meatpacking and poultry-processing plants are located.

There has also been a spike of new cases among construction workers in Austin, Texas, a sector that recently returned to work. Even the White House has proven vulnerable, with positive coronavirus tests for one of Trump’s valets and for Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.