With the current COVID-19 public health crisis, it’s become particularly clear that the pandemic reaches beyond being just a highly contagious, viral disease or issue of community spread. The coronavirus pandemic effectively stratified the population into its different social identities and personalities based on the impact on specific communities. While the United States may be a melting pot, the virus has made evident these pre-existing divisions within a community.
Tuesday, April 7, 2020 - 11:45am
Jesus Christ. I think most of us can agree we didn’t see anything on this scale coming. It hasn’t been more than a couple weeks since the University of Michigan decided to suspend in-person classes, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently decided to join several other states and shut down nonessential services.
Monday, April 6, 2020 - 8:12pm
Editor’s Note: The author of this op-ed has been kept anonymous due to their fear of retaliation.
“Stay safe.” It’s a phrase that’s becoming all too familiar in the days of COVID-19. My husband says it to me as he hugs me before I leave for work. I read it in texts from friends and family who I haven’t seen in weeks. The grocery store clerk utters it through a plexiglass barrier in the checkout line. These two words are a ubiquitous mantra the whole world is crying out in desperation.
Monday, April 6, 2020 - 5:25pm
In periods of societal uncertainty, individuals must turn to rationalism and self-control rather than relying on external factors.
Sunday, April 5, 2020 - 3:06pm
On March 17, students received an email from University of Michigan Housing titled “URGENT: Petition to Remain in Housing.” The email, asking students “who truly have no other alternatives” to submit a request to remain in student housing by 8 a.m.
Wednesday, April 1, 2020 - 4:33pm
In order to encourage exponential growth of renewable energy in the coming years, the United States must significantly invest in the infrastructure of our energy grids. Renewable energy faces two main problems: the inherent unreliability of natural forces and the cheap competition of fossil fuels. However, increasing interconnection between regional energy grids addresses these two central problems of reliability and cost-effectiveness by creating a market for the transfer of energy between states. Connecting our energy grids will allow the U.S.
Tuesday, March 31, 2020 - 10:37am
Every time I open my closet, I glance up, look at my neatly hung cap and gown and look away in disappointment. The memories I had hoped to make wearing that outfit are only a dream now. There was something so deliriously exciting about buying that graduation attire — I remember it so clearly. But now, even looking at it makes me sigh.
Wednesday, March 25, 2020 - 8:13pm
The first time I read about COVID-19 was over Winter Break. It was early January, and I was in Florida with my family on vacation. Iranian General Qasem Soleimani was just killed, and I was mentally preparing for war. My thoughts were running in a million different directions. Social media wasn’t helping. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and even my group chats were flooded with topical memes.
Wednesday, March 25, 2020 - 12:23pm
I arrived at the University of Michigan in February as a visiting Ph.D. researcher from the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom. When I departed for Ann Arbor, the spread of the novel coronavirus was not so critical as it is today. There were about 32,000 cases worldwide, with only three in England and 12 in the United States.