Opinion and analysis

Recent opinion and analysis pieces written by UW-affiliated experts. See The Conversation for only the analysis pieces.

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• Opinion: How a trillion more trees could combat climate change | Forbes5 hours ago
  "Planting enough trees to make an impact would have to be an extensive effort, but there are already ambitious efforts underway, such as the Trillion Tree Campaign. A massive campaign of tree planting could remove CO2 from the atmosphere and at least bind it up for decades," writes Robert Rapier. Indroneil Ganguly, research associate professor of environmental and forest sciences at the UW, is referenced.
• Opinion: Native communities face higher risks during coronavirus pandemic thanks to legacy of colonization | Teen Vogue7 hours ago
  "When my medical school asked its first-year students to move out, I had to decide where to go, and quickly. I could go to South Dakota, where one of my Chiefs had invited me to a thunder-welcoming ceremony, or Arizona, where a healing ceremony was taking place for a family member," writes Victor Anthony Lopez-Carmen. A study co-authored by researchers at the UW Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation is mentioned.
• Opinion: Stop state budget cuts during coronavirus pandemic and focus on tax reform | The Seattle Times1 day ago
  "We are in a time of crisis, a time of great uncertainty. We don’t know how many people will die of COVID-19, nor the extent of the economic harm that will result from physical distancing," write Mark Vossler, Max Savishinsky and Stephen Bezruchka, senior lecturer of health services and of global health at the UW.
• Opinion: The ignorance epidemic is nourishing the coronavirus pandemic | The Spokesman-Review1 day ago
  "The article was titled, ironically, 'Evidence Over Hysteria.' Written by a Silicon Valley marketing manager and published online March 22, the piece minimized the dangers associated with the coronavirus," writes Shawn Vestal, columnist for the Spokesman-Review. Carl Bergstrom, a professor of biology at the UW, is quoted.
• Opinion: Now is the time for a national public health reserve | The Hill1 day ago
  "Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, health departments had limited staff, resources and time to support the diverse public health needs of our communities. This system will be further strained as the epidemic grows. We must immediately create a national public health reserve to shore up public health systems," write Alison Drake, assistant professor of global health at the UW, and Sandra McCoy of the University of California, Berkeley.
• Opinion: Wash your hands? Wash your email, too — UW/WSU host virtual townhall on coronavirus “infodemic” | The Seattle Times3 days ago
  "As local newsrooms shrink, crumble and even close during the coronavirus economic freeze-up, it’s time to sanitize your inbox so that that you don’t fill the information void with a parallel contagion: misinformation," writes Dean Miller, Seattle Times Free Press editor. The UW Center for an Informed Public is mentioned. Jevin West, associate professor in the UW Information School, and Carl Bergstrom, professor of biology at the UW, are quoted.
• Opinion: “Just (climate) transition” provides a roadmap for “just (COVID-19) containment” | Forbes3 days ago
  "Climate policies impose costs on specific sectors to create a public good. The climate benefits they produce are non-excludable; that is, everyone gains, including those who do not bear the costs of climate policies," write Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs, and Aseem Prakash, professor of political science, at the UW.
• Opinion: What we pretend to know about the coronavirus could kill us | The New York Times6 days ago
  "Other than a vaccine or an extra 500,000 ventilators, tests and hospital beds, reliable information is the best weapon we have against Covid-19," writes Charlie Warzel of the New York Times. Kate Starbird, associate professor of human centered design and engineering at the UW, is quoted.
• Opinion: Crowdfunding is an imperfect weapon against the pandemic | The Washington Post6 days ago
  "As the infection rate of COVID-19 has exploded across the United States, the growth of charitable crowdfunding campaigns has seemed similarly exponential," writes Nora Kenworthy, associate professor of nursing and health studies at UW Bothell.
• Analysis: Gita Ramjee — a woman who pursued science for the greater good | The Conversation1 week ago
  "[She] dedicated her professional life to HIV prevention research for women and adolescents from the 1980s when the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was first detected among South Africans," writes Keymathri Moodley of Gita Ramjee, clinical professor of global health at the UW, who died from COVID-19-related complications.
• Opinion: With coronavirus, prison and jail sentences could become death sentences | The Seattle Times1 week ago
  "A little more than a year ago, the Washington state Supreme Court found the death penalty to be unconstitutional. Yet a failure to take strong and immediate measures in response to the COVID-19 outbreak could mean that many prison and jail sentences become death sentences," write Katherine Beckett, professor of sociology at the UW, and Anjum Hajat, assistant professor of epidemiology at the UW.
• Analysis: COVID-19 could lead to an epidemic of clinical depression | The Conversation1 week ago
  "Isolation, social distancing and extreme changes in daily life are hard now, but the United States also needs to be prepared for what may be an epidemic of clinical depression because of COVID-19," write Jonathan Kanter, research associate professor of psychology at the UW, and Katherine Manbeck, graduate student of psychology at the UW.
• Opinion: What India needs to fight the virus | The New York Times1 week ago
  "On Tuesday evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered 1.3 billion Indians to stay inside their homes for 21 days in an unprecedented bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus in the country," writes Ramanan Laxminarayan, affiliate professor of global health at the UW.
• Opinion: AI can help scientists find a COVID-19 vaccine | WIRED1 week ago
  "AI has gotten something of a bad rap in recent years, but the COVID-19 pandemic illustrates how AI can do a world of good in the race to find a vaccine," writes Oren Etzioni, professor of computer science and engineering at the UW, and Nicole DiCario.
• Opinion: An actual virus sobers the goofy age of ‘going viral’ | The New York Times1 week ago
  "Our public language long ago depleted its resources and then debased itself. We must be the first and only civilization to use a word, “viral” — a term that denotes death and destruction — to signify a quintessentially American form of success," write Lee Siegel. Kate Starbird, associate professor of human centered design and engineering at the UW, is quoted.
• Opinion: Coronavirus mimics climate politics — the emerging frame of ‘the cure is worse than the disease’ | Forbes2 weeks ago
  "Coronavirus and climate policies are different sorts of problems. Because citizens have varying risk perceptions about these issues (their immediacy and threats to personal well being), they are more willing to bear costs to tackle coronavirus than climate change," writes Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs, and Aseem Prakash, professor of political science, at the UW.
• Opinion: Who lives and who dies? | The Spokesman-Review2 weeks ago
  "I could soon be the physician following a policy that determines who would be denied medical care. At the same time, I could be one of those forbidden care if I needed it," writes Dr. Morhaf Al Achkar, assistant professor of family medicine at the UW.
• Opinion: Speaking as a dad and a doctor, we should rethink coronavirus school closures | The Seattle Times2 weeks ago
  "The decision to close schools was not an easy one, and I appreciate the deliberate approach that was taken by schools Superintendent Denise Juneau and city officials to ensure equality across our diverse citizenry. Ultimately, I believe it was the right decision taken at the right time. However, I have significant concerns about the plan moving forward," writes Dr. Chetan Seshadri, associate professor of medicine at the UW.
• Analysis: 'My first question every time I see a new patient now is: Could this be COVID-19?' A Seattle doctor on the frontlines | The Conversation2 weeks ago
  "As emergency and critical care doctors and nurses, we think about and train for these types of situations regularly, but nobody expects to be the epicenter of a pandemic in the U.S.," writes Dr. Nicholas Johnson, assistant professor of emergency medicine at the UW.
• Opinion: Homeless sweeps and crowded shelters are a recipe for humanitarian disaster | The Seattle Times3 weeks ago
  "People facing homelessness in Seattle have long had reasons to avoid emergency shelters. Now they have another: During a pandemic, crowding our most vulnerable neighbors into confined spaces could be a recipe for humanitarian disaster, and a health crisis for the whole city," write David Boarder Giles of Deakin University, Timothy Harris of Real Change and Graham Pruss, lecturer of anthropology at the UW.
• Opinion: America is at war, and there’s only one enemy | The New York Times3 weeks ago
  "The United States can and should 'go big' to fight the coronavirus. It has done so before, at extraordinary speed and scale. It has tools like the Defense Production Act to help do it again," writes Margaret O'Mara, professor of history at the UW.
• Opinion: Nation's opioid addiction treatment system during COVID-19 needs reform | The Hill3 weeks ago
  "Recently, CDC officials encouraged people to have a 2-week stock of their medications. Unfortunately, for people taking medications for opioid use disorder, this simply may not be possible — without critical federal intervention," write Caleb Banta-Green, of the UW Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute, Regina LaBelle of Georgetown University, and Dr. Yngvild Olsen, of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.
• Opinion: A cough, and our hearts stop — coping with coronavirus anxiety and fear | The Seattle Times3 weeks ago
  "We are you. We are mothers, daughters, students and teachers. Yet we are also clinical psychologists who spend our days researching and treating pathological anxiety and fear," write Michele Bedard-Gilligan, a UW associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Emma PeConga, a UW doctoral student in psychology, and Lori Zoellner, a UW professor of psychology.
• Opinion: Base travel bans on science | The Seattle Times3 weeks ago
  "There is no evidence that the travel ban on our European allies will slow the coronavirus in the United States. We are already seeded. This travel ban affronts our allies, who were apparently not consulted, and diverts resources from the battlefield — our neighborhoods," writes Ann Marie Kimball, professor emeritus of epidemiology at the UW.
• Opinion: The social repercussions of the coronavirus will not spare children | The Seattle Times3 weeks ago
  "At the UW, I teach about socioeconomic inequities in early childhood development and parenting. Now, the growing impact of this novel coronavirus pandemic threatens to exacerbate inequalities and systemic oppression that endanger the well-being of underserved children," writes Soojin Oh Park, assistant professor of education.
• Opinion: Here's why coronavirus and climate change are different sorts of policy problems | Forbes3 weeks ago
  "Most countries have gotten their acts together, although belatedly, on coronavirus. Citizens also seem to be following the advice of public health officials. Could then the coronavirus policy model be applied to climate change?" writes Nives Dolšak, professor of marine and environmental affairs, and Aseem Prakash, professor of political science at the UW.
• Analysis: Social distancing comes with social side effects — here's how to stay connected | The Conversation3 weeks ago
  "As psychological scientists at the University of Washington’s Center for the Science of Social Connection, our lab studies social connectedness, why it is important and how to maximize its benefits. Our clinical and research experiences help us understand the side effects of social distancing and suggest strategies for addressing them," writes Jonathan Kanter, research associate professor of psychology at the UW, and Adam Kuczynski, a doctoral student in psychology at the UW.
• Analysis: Three lessons from the AIDS crisis | The Conversation3 weeks ago
  "As my governor closes all the public schools and public libraries here in Seattle, I’m thinking about 1981 – the year when newspapers in New York and Los Angeles reported that a strange new virus was killing healthy young men," writes Laurie Marhoefer, associate professor of history at the UW.
• Opinion: In triaging coronavirus, prioritize vulnerable, health-care workers | The Seattle Times4 weeks ago
  "While many of us may get infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, we can be reassured that the vast majority of us won’t die as a result of it. Sadly, the same cannot be said of our elderly population or those with underlying illnesses," write Dr. John Lynch, associate professor of medicine at the UW, and Karin Huster, clinical instructor of global health at the UW.
• Opinion: UW pandemic expert explains our obsession with COVID-19 | Crosscut4 weeks ago
  "We have known of this virus only for a couple of months, so there is a degree of uncertainty that can easily lead to fear, as well as obsession," writes Dr. Peter Rabinowitz, a UW professor of environmental and occupational health sciences.

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