UCLA In the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world's news media. Some articles may require registration or a subscription to view. See more UCLA In the News.
Should women give birth at home because of coronavirus? | New York Times
"Essentially what we are telling people is to stick with the plan you had before Covid-19," said Dr. Christina Han, M.D., an associate professor and the director of the Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles. "If you researched your options, and home birth is right for you, do that. If you had planned for a hospital birth, continue on that path, taking precautions."
Social distancing may have helped California slow the spread | Los Angeles Times
Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, an epidemiologist at UCLA, said the numbers of hospitalizations and deaths provide a more accurate indicator of the outbreak's trajectory than the number of cases identified through uneven testing…. "I will anticipate that we will continue to see increased in hospitalizations and deaths, but I think we should be able to see some leveling off of those numbers in a couple of weeks because of the physical distancing measures," Kim-Farley said. (Kim-Farley is also quoted in another Los Angeles Times article and interviewed on KPCC-FM's "Take Two" (approx. 16:55 mark).)
Trump administration to roll back emissions standards | San Francisco Chronicle
"When you revisit an administrative action like this, there's a heightened level of scrutiny," said Julia Stein, an environmental law professor at the UCLA School of Law. "The administration has really struggled to provide an adequate basis to roll back the Obama-era standards."
Trump finalizes fuel economy rollback | Forbes
The first legal test could come soon if opponents ask the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to issue a "stay" that would prevent the rollback from being implemented. Such a ruling would require the court to find that the suing parties are likely to prevail on the merits, said Ann Carlson, a University of California at Los Angeles law professor. (Also: Guardian (U.K.))
Choir members contract COVID-19 | Los Angeles Times
Jamie Lloyd-Smith, a UCLA infectious disease researcher, said it's possible that the forceful breathing action of singing dispersed viral particles in the church room that were widely inhaled. "One could imagine that really trying to project your voice would also project more droplets and aerosols," he said.
15,000 L.A. high school students are AWOL online | Los Angeles Times
Teachers' relationships with students before the closures could affect whether some show up, said UCLA education professor Tyrone Howard, who has been in contact with current L.A. teachers whom he mentored. The ones best able to take lessons online already had strong relationships with their students and their families.
Coronavirus pandemic update | KTLA-TV
"I think that this is really a good thing. The president is now listening to advisors and looking at the models that are being projected. I think the question everybody has is, do these models make sense?" said UCLA's Dr. Anne Rimoin. (Rimoin was also interviewed on MSNBC.)
UCLA student develops ventilator with parts from Home Depot | KCBS-TV
A UCLA biodesign student has developed a low-cost ventilator with parts he bought at Home Depot. Glen Meyerowitz says his ventilator is a prototype and not ready for patients. But he says he's already working with companies to make a medical-grade version of his affordable ventilator.
Should California punish people who refuse to stay home? | Los Angeles Times
Eugene Volokh, a professor of First Amendment law at UCLA, said arresting people for defying the stay-at-home orders — similar to the deterrent power of any other law — will encourage people to stay home, but he questioned the logic of placing people in crowded jails during a pandemic. "Obviously, the government isn't terribly interested in using resources for that, by any means," Volokh said. "So, my guess is that, to the extent there's any actual law enforcement here, it's going to be very much aimed at trying to deter people through the threat of arrest rather than actually arresting people."
Who gets care for COVID-19 when hospitals fill up? | Chicago Tribune Opinion
(Commentary co-written by UCLA's Dr. Neil Wenger) With the rapidly expanding COVID-19 pandemic, there is a very strong likelihood that despite heroic efforts by hospitals, we will run out of ICU beds and ventilators. If we continue to prioritize patients for whom meaningful recovery is virtually impossible, we may be doing this at the expense of patients with greater prospects of recovery with appropriate treatment.
Grocery shopping and coronavirus | Mic
But if you want to be uber-cautious, Jonathan Fielding, a professor of health policy and management at the University of California Los Angeles's School of Public Health, told the magazine that a vegetable brush would suffice; just make sure to clean it between brushing each produce item. (Fielding is also quoted in Latin Post.)
Is sterilizing and reusing masks and other medical equipment safe? | Daily Beast
Dr. Timothy Brewer, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at UCLA who has served as an adviser for the World Health Organization, CDC, and National Institutes of Health, said he and his colleagues who practiced medicine in Peru often reused N95 respirators. "That's obviously not how we use them in the United States, but it's better than not having anything at all," said Brewer. "We're now in a situation where we have to be more judicious in their use and probably have to reuse them in order to have access to them while we're caring for COVID patients."
