Media Coverage

Mini 2 teaching began last week. I teach two MBA courses, each with two sections: (Core) Operations Management (OM, 45-760) and (Elective) Service Management (SM, 45-965). The OM course is entirely on Zoom, while the SM course, until Thanksgiving, has one in-person on-campus section (and then on Zoom), and the other is entirely on Zoom. Both of my courses as quite mathematical, with OM focused on manufacturing and SM covering startups in addition to traditional service operations (call centers, hospitals). 

The current trajectory indicates that Illinois will cross 10,000 COVID-19 deaths before Thanksgiving and 500,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases before New Year’s Day. These milestones will be reported on every news program across the state. COVID-19 has impacted every person in Illinois, either with loved ones being lost, the loss of employment, a shift to working from home or how we conduct our daily affairs. No one has been immune from its ubiquitous presence.

The University of Wisconsin football team announced 12 covid-19 infections, including head coach Paul Chryst, after their rout of the University of Illinois Oct. 23. Although no one will likely know the exact details of what transpired, there are several issues that come forward from this sequence of events that should apply to every college football team, as well as every other college team sport played this season.

Covid-19 is a respiratory illness that spreads when infected individuals shed the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes it. While this seems to happen chiefly through close contact and respiratory droplets, evidence has mounted that the disease can also spread through airborne transmission. Distancing, masks, and improved ventilation are all critical interventions to interrupt this spread.

It’s not even Election Day yet, but tens of millions of Americans have already gone through the process of waiting in line to cast a vote. Even for those with the options of mail-in and drop-off ballots, early voting lines have stretched for blocks in multiple states. Theoretically, more early voting means fewer people will try to pack into the polls on Election Day proper — a good thing during a pandemic. But when early voting, itself, results in big crowds — and the voters just keep on coming — it’s worth wondering whether we’re really avoiding as much viral transmission as we’d hoped.