Dr. Lori Peek, Director of IBS's Natural Hazards Center, and Dr. Courtney Welton-Mitchell, NHC Research Associate, were both interviewed for an article posted in the Daily Camera on March 19, 2020. The full article is here (behind a paywall). The article addressed anti-Asian discrimination, research opportunities, and the sociological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on everyone, but especially vulnerable populations.
“It is not a moment to put up walls,” Peek said. “This isn’t a moment to engage in blaming and stigmatizing and scapegoating. It’s important, not only how we can take care of ourselves, but how we take care of those around us.” (CU Boulder Natural Hazards Center Focused on coronavirus challenge – Daily Camera, 3/19/2020)
Welton-Mitchell commented on the needs for social interactions and support during this trying time.
Welton-Mitchell said… "How can we love and support people in creative and innovative ways, that might take a little mental acrobatics? We are up to the challenge, I believe, as a society.” (CU Boulder Natural Hazards Center Focused on coronavirus challenge – Daily Camera, 3/19/2020)
Lori Peek also wrote an article on the NHC website that poses the question "What holds society together in times like these?"
This is the moment for us to recognize our interdependence and to recommit to our collective sense of responsibility to one another. In recognizing this responsibility, we must know that we already have the answer inside of us to the question posed earlier: What holds society together during a time like this?
We do.
("The Ties that Bind," Lori Peek, 3/20/2020)
