The Green

Listen to this edition of The Green or individual segments below:

It is difficult to grasp on just how much damage the coronavirus pandemic will ultimately to the economy nationwide and here in the First State, but we are starting to get an initial sense of the scope both in hard numbers – and anecdotally.

Delaware Public Media contributor Jon Hurdle spent the week talking with businesses and workers affected – and looking at the available data.

Schools in the First State remain closed until at least May 15th under Gov. John Carney’s emergency order.  That means at least a month and a half more of school trying to educate students remotely.

The challenge of doing that it’s a huge one.  Delaware Public Media contributor Larry Nagengast checked in this week with districts and schools around the state to see how they’re faring – and found approaches and preparedness vary.

The University of Delaware was the site of the first confirmed cases of the new coronavirus disease COVID-19 in Delaware.

The University responded by suspending classes, moving up, then extending spring break, closing its residence halls, and promising a move to online-only courses starting this Monday.

Delaware Public Media’s Sophia Schmidt talked with Sharon Pitt, vice president for information technologies and chief information officer at UD - and Lynn Okagaki, deputy provost for academic affairs - about how the school plans to make the transition.

The novel coronavirus outbreak is unchartered territory, leaving all of us struggling to process what is going on and what it means to us and our families.

And that’s just as true for kids as it is for adults.  Maybe even more so – as children are asked to learn at home instead of school and maintain social distancing that separates them their friends.

So how should parents talk to their kids about the virus and how it is changing their world.

In this week’s Enlighten Me, Meghan Walls  -a pediatric psychologist at Nemours A.I. duPont Hospital for Children - joins us to offer some guidance.

Listen to this edition of The Green or individual segments below:

As the outbreak of the new coronavirus evolves nationwide and in Delaware, we’ve been checking in with a global health expert out of Delaware State University who studied the 2014 ebola outbreak and other epidemics.

Delaware Public Media’s Sophia Schmidt talks with Chair of DSU’s Department of History, Political Science, and Philosophy Donna Patterson about how the outbreak of the virus is shaping up in the First State.

Government officials at all levels are scrambling to keep up with the novel coronavirus pandemic – both in blunting its spread and dealing with the economic fallout.

This week in Congress – a House coronavirus relief bill passed the Senate and was signed by President Trump – addressing sick and family leave for some workers, expanding unemployment assistance and nutrition assistance and increasing resources for testing.

But much more is on the way and Delaware senior Sen. Tom Carper joined Delaware Public Media’s Tom Byrne to discuss the federal response – what’s happening now and what’s next.

Gov. John Carney followed federal health recommendations and neighboring states earlier this week and adjusted his emergency order to limit restaurants in Delaware to carry-out and delivery only in an attempt to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

The move put thousands in Delaware out of work and Delaware’s Restaurant Association says more needs to be done to help the state’s service industry stay afloat during the pandemic.

Delaware Public Media’s Nick Ciolino recently spoke with Delaware Restaurant Association president and CEO Carrie Leishman about how this service industry is dealing with uncertainty it faces during this outbreak.

Arts organizations and venues, museums, theatres and more stand to lose big as the Coronavirus pandemic rages on.

In this week’s Arts Playlist - Delaware Division of the Arts director Paul Weagraff discusses the impact Delaware’s arts’ community is feeling.