No matter how tightly you hold the cover of your take-out container as you walk from the Dining Commons, the wasps, or more precisely, the yellow jackets, always try to sneak in your boxes. Many students are concerned for their safety when eating outside, and also curious about whether it is possible to remove the yellow jackets. The potential of being stung and having an allergic reaction is also an issue.
Recently, a University of Massachusetts Amherst research team presented groundbreaking research on the social and economic impacts of gambling in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Gambling Impact Cohort study is the first major gambling study to spend over six years on the same individuals in order to analyze the development of their gambling behavior.
By Nancy Jiang ’23
Staff Writer
After Joe Biden was announced the winner of the presidential election, focus turned toward the policies he will be bringing into office on Jan. 20, 2021. As cases rise around the country, a particular area of interest is Biden’s COVID-19 strategy.
According to Biden’s Nov. 13 statement, people need to see a change in the approach to the pandemic. Biden said, “I will not be president until next year. The crisis does not respect dates on the calendar, it is accelerating right now.”
A representative from Biden’s team said that officials from the Department of Health and Human Services have gathered to plan a vaccination campaign for February and March focusing on logistics and policies. They will also consider factors such as prioritizing vaccination and distribution based on socioeconomic and racial equity.
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris have promised that their administration will increase testing sites, supply more personal protective equipment and implement comprehensive guidance on social distancing nationwide. Whether these promises will be effective in combating COVID-19 remains uncertain, as details on policy implementation are relatively unknown.
Aside from issues on a national level, Biden promised to restore the relationship between the U.S. and the World Health Organization to fix issues caused by the pandemic. Biden tweeted: “On my first day as President, I will rejoin the @WHO and restore our leadership on the world stage.” Although there is no formal procedure required for rejoining the WHO, similar to Trump’s withdrawal from the organization, returning would be as easy as an executive action. However, given that many other countries are actively improving their own health care systems and contributing to global wellness, it could be difficult for the U.S. to “restore [its] leadership on the world stage.” The U.S. has been hugely impacted by previous failures in preventing and responding to the pandemic.
Biden’s health care policy, which promotes the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, has also recently received attention because it relates to COVID-19 vaccine distribution and vaccination costs.
The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, requires all U.S. citizens to be enrolled in a health insurance plan approved by ACA guidelines. The ACA is designed to assist both individuals and families who cannot afford a health care plan by reducing their fees. People with preexisting conditions would also have greater options available and would not need to worry about being denied health care by private insurance companies under this plan. Signed by former President Barack Obama in 2010, the ACA has since been challenged as unconstitutional by various district courts. In 2012, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for the ACA to coerce states into expanding Medicaid programs, though it ruled that the law as a whole was constitutional. Moreover, the ACA received massive opposition from members of the Republican Party. One Republican dissenter called the plan a “welfare program disguised” and cited concerns that under ACA, they would pay more in taxes for strangers who may use their money on medical procedures conservatives oppose, such as abortions. In response, Biden aims to “protect the Affordable Care Act from these continued attacks” and make the system less complex to navigate.
One of the key campaign promises that President Donald Trump ran on in the 2016 presidential election was to repeal the ACA. However, the ACA has actually become more favorable among the public during Trump’s presidential term. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the percentage of those who favor the ACA increased from approximately 40 percent in March 2016 to 55 percent in October 2020. The poll also shows that two-thirds of Republicans, along with 79 percent of all people surveyed, do nott want the court to overturn the protections the ACA gives those with preexisting conditions. Republicans believe that protecting people with preexisting conditions is still important even though they want to overturn the ACA as a whole.
As mandated by Massachusetts law, all Mount Holyoke students are required to have health insurance even if studying remotely. The only exception is for students studying remotely in another country. Mount Holyoke charges all students for the Student Health Insurance Plan, which is ACA compliant. Students whose family insurance meets the Massachusetts state requirements can waive their fees.
By Nancy Jiang ‘23
Staff Writer
If you are stressed or feeling anxious about the election results, you might be experiencing election stress disorder. (Yes, it’s a real thing.)
According to the American Psychological Association, 68 percent of Americans claim that the 2020 U.S. presidential election is a major source of stress in their lives, more so than the 2016 election when only 52 percent of Americans reported feeling stressed. The stress level is especially high for specific groups such as African Americans, who saw an increase from 46 percent in 2016 to 71 percent in 2020, and adults experiencing chronic illnesses. Although the exact reason remains unknown, 25 percent of college students reported clinically significant stress symptoms related to the election in 2016, meaning these symptoms were so severe that they needed to see a doctor.
Uncertainty is considered a major cause of election stress disorder. People worry not only about which candidate will win but also what the future of the nation will look like, especially in an election between two candidates who are extremely divisive. It’s hard to make predictions as the country would be moving in opposite directions based on either one’s administrative plans.
“No matter who wins, people will protest,” Allison Benguiat ’22 said. “One thing is for sure: the unrest of the crowd.”
Additionally, international students’ experiences in the U.S. will be hugely affected by the outcome of the election, as they must face additional unknown factors such as the future policies for student visas and U.S. work authorization. “I’m worried about my visa expiring. That will stop me from coming back to Mount Holyoke,” Susan Wang ’23, an international student from China, said. “I hope the pandemic gets more under control after the election. As much as I miss the campus and hope to return, the increasing number of positive cases makes me hesitate.”
Some students appear more comfortable with uncertainty. “We’ll have to figure out what to do based on the new policies,” said Kelly Li ’23, who is also from China, “But as for now, we can do nothing about it. We’ll have to take it as what it will be, so I’m not stressed now.”
As of Nov. 4, Democratic nominee Joseph Biden had won 50.3 percent of votes while President Donald Trump had won 48.1 percent, according to the Associated Press.
Li’s strategy of “taking it as it will be” is also suggested by the APA to help deal with election stress disorder. Distracting yourself from constant worrying might also help alleviate anxiety. Watch a few episodes of your favorite TV show, talk to family and friends or focus on schoolwork (although that might cause another type of stress). If that doesn’t work, you can also talk about your concerns with someone from Mount Holyoke’s Counseling Service online.
By Nancy Jiang ’23
Staff Writer
Content Warning: This article contains mention of suicide.
As of Sept. 22, there are 7.4 million active COVID-19 cases worldwide, with 2.5 million confirmed in the United States. In addition to symptoms of COVID-19 such as fever, headache and respiratory issues, neurologists have discovered that the virus can seriously impact patients’ mental health.
Neurologists wondered what impact, if any, the virus had on brains. Apart from the drastic increase in the appearance of stress-driven psychological disorders during quarantine, life-threatening neurological symptoms have also emerged for COVID-19 patients. A case study published in the journal Psychosomatics reported a patient who experienced command suicidal hallucination, driven to drink bleach from the kitchen. (This was before President Donald Trump suggested drinking bleach as a potential cure for COVID-19.) According to the patient, he was compelled by a loud and forceful command from an unrecognizable voice, not suicidal intentions. This patient had no prior history of medical or psychiatric illnesses. However, after being saved from ingesting bleach, he remained uncooperative toward the medical team and did not admit to having auditory hallucinations until his 12th day in the hospital. Moreover, his COVID-19 infection developed soon after. Neurologists considered his auditory hallucination to be the first symptom of the virus.
Other patients have also developed delirium (similar to hallucination, patients develop confused thinking and reduced awareness toward their surroundings) and other neurological manifestations after their coronavirus infections. In another case study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry Open, two days after a patient was hospitalized for COVID-19, she started to become overly alert toward her surroundings and manifested multiple signs of hallucination, saying that the nurses and staff were trying to kill her and regarding her cat as a lion. She behaved abnormally, constantly washing her phone in the sink or brushing her teeth with soap and water. Deficiency in fluency and memory was recorded 10 days after she was hospitalized. She recovered after 52 days with no more ongoing symptoms.
Looking back at one of the first case series from Wuhan, China, published in the journal of JAMA Neurology at the start of 2020, out of 214 people, 36.4 percent had experienced neurological symptoms. According to a study design published in the journal Neurocritical Care, evidence suggests that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can affect the human brain, possibly by passing through the brain-blood barrier (part of the neuroimmune system that prevents foreign solutes in the blood — in this case, the virus from entering the central nervous system) and further cause neuropsychiatric problems.
Although not as common as the respiratory symptoms, the neuropsychiatric impact of COVID-19 has become a new point of study for some medical professionals, and something to be aware of for those monitoring symptoms. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke is providing funding for continued research into the neurological symptoms of COVID-19.
