Forgetting Contagion, Stocks Recover Their Losses
Stocks on Wall Street erased their losses for the year, a remarkable milestone for a market that was reeling just a few months ago as investors feared the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The INFORMS Analytics+ Conference showcased how companies are turning advanced analytics and AI into measurable operational results
In most emergency departments, beds are a hot commodity. But some patients don’t actually need a bed for their treatment – and accurately identifying those people is a low-lift but effective way to increase efficiency without sacrificing care quality, finds a study recently published in the journal Management Science.
The researchers developed a simple decision tree, informed by mathematical and machine learning models, to help staff decide whether a patient truly needs a bed or can be routed to a “vertical processing pathway” – that is, an area where they can be treated sitting up. Many hospitals already have such an area but don’t necessarily have a systematic way to decide which patients are treated there.
Diversity alone won’t get the votes for funding public education. It takes communities that are more integrated and connected, where residents have a sense of shared stake.
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Stocks on Wall Street erased their losses for the year, a remarkable milestone for a market that was reeling just a few months ago as investors feared the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
With the impact of COVID-19, Americans across the country went from wishing for the weekend, to living it daily. To many, it is feeling a bit like the film Groundhog Day. But the current state of the country won’t last forever, and before too long Americans will be back to counting down for the weekend. The typical countdown begins when they arrive to work on Monday. From there, it’s “hump day” on Wednesday and it continues until Friday finally arrives.
As Covid-19 cases took off in New York in March, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo imposed a lockdown of nonessential businesses to slow the spread of the coronavirus, calling it “the most drastic action we can take.” Now researchers say more targeted approaches — in New York and elsewhere — might have protected public health with less economic pain.
In the fight against the coronavirus, assuming the best-case scenario — the population continuing to maintain social distancing and hand hygiene; keeping the elderly protected by sheltering in place; wearing masks; robust testing; and “really good contact tracing” — we’ll see the virus smolder. Absent that good behavior, we may see a potentially devastating second wave in the fall.
The coronavirus appears to be in retreat in regions that moved decisively to contain it after being hit hard, including New York and New Jersey. But the virus is persisting — and, in some places, spreading aggressively — in parts of the South, Midwest and West, including in states that were among the last to impose shutdowns and the first to lift them.

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