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Published September 23, 2020

Tributes to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dominate this week’s media landscape. Meanwhile, issues related to the pandemic and the economic slowdown persist. Fortunately for news consumers, Rutgers experts appear in the media every day with fresh perspectives on healthcare, education, government policy, and other areas of public concern. Below are examples from the past few days:

Highlighting Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s career achievements, the New York Times explores her connection to Rutgers, noting that “she was the second woman on the faculty” in an era when “fewer than two dozen women were teaching at all American law schools combined.” The story also mentions Ginsburg’s work for the New Jersey affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, through which she fought for pregnant women and other victims of discrimination.

New York Times | Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court’s Feminist Icon, Is Dead at 87

Can you get both the flu and COVID-19 at the same time? Indeed you can, says Carl Goldstein RWJMS’78, a clinical professor of medicine at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He tells The Star-Ledger that “COVID independently can lead to ventilator-dependent respiratory failure, as can influenza, and influenza notoriously can set the stage for a bacterial pneumonia. So if you are infected with both COVID and influenza, they will both exact harm independently and, likely, synergistically.”

nj.com | Can you have both COVID-19 and the flu at the same time?

Here’s something to look forward to as autumn starts: Dave Robinson, a distinguished professor of geography at Rutgers and the New Jersey state climatologist, says the fall foliage season is likely to be a very good one. “When it comes to precipitation, we’re already good to go. Even if it were going to stop raining now for the next six weeks, it might have some impacts, but not nearly as much as if we had a dry summer,” he tells The Press of Atlantic City.

The Press of Atlantic City | Here is what the fall foliage season should look like in New Jersey

A new report by Michael Lahr, a distinguished research professor at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and director of the Rutgers Economic Advisory Service, found that it will take years, even decades, for New Jersey’s economy to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’ll see strong growth the next couple of years,” he tells NJ101.5, but it won’t be immediate. “Some things can’t rebound that quickly. For example, we’re not going to see many sporting events with people going to visit them.”

nj1015.com | NJ economy is recovering from COVID, but don’t hold your breath

Thousands of New Jersey school children didn’t have computers or internet access in the midst of the pandemic last spring, says an NJ.com special report. Experts warn that the same conditions will prevail in the new school year. “I know there are thousands of children who are going to absolutely fall behind,” says Kaleena Berryman, director of the Abbot Leadership Institute at Rutgers University–Newark, a public school advocacy organization. Rutgers faculty members Rebecca Reynolds and Vikki Katz also share their expertise in the story.

nj.com | The digital divide

The Star-Ledger publishes an op-ed on post-pandemic policy implications from Linda Stamato and Sandy Jaffe, directors emeriti of the Center for Negotiation and Conflict Resolution at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy. The authors urge government leaders at state and federal levels to engage “with the private sector…to enhance global trade, manage energy needs more efficiently, invest in workforce development—tech, science and professional workers—and collaborate in developing regional capacity in research and development.”

nj.com | Opportunities after the pandemic

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