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Coronavirus

Social Capital and Hardship

What role does social capital play in a community’s health? Adam Gopnik, in The Paradoxical Role of Social Capital in the Coronavirus Pandemic, ponders whether there’s a relationship between communities with high social capital and a community’s public health. Gopnik uses a traditional definition of social capital as the “parts of society that, without being…

Frontline: Love, Life & the Virus (Full Film)

?? The story of a young mother in a coma battling COVID-19 after giving birth — and the schoolteacher who stepped in to care for the newborn. This journalism is made possible by viewers like you. Director Oscar Guerra chronicles a 30-year-old mother named Zully and her fight to survive COVID and see her newborn baby,…

Whitewater School Board Meeting, 8.10.20: 9 Points

At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Unified School District’s board, the board heard presentations from a consulting epidemiologist and also a former Jefferson County school administrator who now works with Jefferson County. After comment & discussion, the board voted 6-1 to extend the September 1-11 teaching format through 9.25, with the present expectation of…

The Pandemic Economy

Economists Carmen Reinhart and Vincent Reinhart write in Foreign Affairs that we’re in The Pandemic Depression: Although dubbed a “global financial crisis,” the downturn that began in 2008 was largely a banking crisis in 11 advanced economies. Supported by double-digit growth in China, high commodity prices, and lean balance sheets, emerging markets proved quite resilient…

Friday Catblogging: A Cat Cafe During the Pandemic

Embedded above is a video about the Neko Cat Cafe in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood. The pandemic’s led to changes at the establishment.  Gabe Gurarante writes The Cats at Capitol Hill’s Temporarily Closed Neko Cafe Basically Run the Place Now: Even though Capitol Hill’s cat cafe Neko has been temporarily closed for months due to…

Whitewater Common Council Meeting, 8.4.20: 6 Points

At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Common Council, among other items — the council slightly modified its mask ordinance, discussed (but took no action on) a racial justice initiative that would create an Equal Opportunities Committee, voted unanimously to extend the lake drawdown project for approximately another year, and voted to continue virtual public…

Whitewater School Board Meeting, 8.3.20: 6 Points

At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Unified School District’s board, the board heard a presentation from the district about fall instruction for the first two weeks of school, and the metrics the district is considering when deciding schools’ status after those initial weeks. The meeting was informational only, so the board took no action.…

Conspiracy Theories: A Frontline Documentary and Coronavirus Disinformation

Of Alex Jones & Roger Stone, Frontline’s United States of Conspiracy describes how “trafficking in conspiracy theories went from the fringes of U.S. politics into the White House. [It’s an] investigation of the alliance among conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, longtime Trump associate Roger Stone and the president — and their role in the battle over…

The Whitewater School Board’s Decision on Early Fall Instruction: 4 Points

Updates, afternoon of 7.28.20: (1) I’ve added a recording of the 7.27.20 meeting. The best record is a recording. (2) A reader emailed to ask where I stand on recent pandemic-related public actions. On masks, I supported the city’s ordinance (to take effect 8.1) as an unfortunate necessity to preserve safe mobility in the marketplace.…

The Whitewater Unified School District’s Proposed Fall Instructional Plans

Last night (7.22), the Whitewater Unified School District held a virtual meeting to describe a fall instructional proposal to be presented to the district’s school board on 7.27.20. The meeting was interrupted, and so the district published today (7.23) a video describing the proposal. Embedded above is that video presentation. (There was an earlier, recorded…

Whitewater, Wisconsin’s Temporary Mask Ordinance: 7 Points

Updated evening of 7.22.20 with meeting video. (The discussion on Whitewater’s mask ordinance runs from 31:09 to 3:37:50.) At last night’s meeting of the Whitewater Common Council, the seven-member council voted unanimously for a temporary mask ordinance, taking effect 8.1.20 and running through 12.31.20, requiring masks in parts of buildings open to the public, and…