Philadelphia Health Officials recently released a report saying that air quality in the city during the coronavirus pandemic is the cleanest it has been in decades. Pictures from around the world compared to ones from years ago appear to show the same results. But is a pandemic truly good for the environment or are we looking at this all wrong? Dr. Franco Montalto, a professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at Drexel University joins KYW In Depth to break down how coronavirus restrictions are affecting the environment and if any of the changes could be sticking around after we go back to normal.  See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

We talked to Dr. Mark DiNubile a month ago about a therapy his company is developing, with the goal of helping very sick COVID-19 patients recover. DiNubile is the Chief Medical Officer at BioAegis Therapeutics in New Jersey. We checked in with him again to see how the development is going, and we also asked him some questions we had about the virus and some of the potential treatments that have been talked about in the news. Dr. DiNubile joins KYW In Depth to discuss cytokine storms, how we became fixated on hydroxychloroquine and the latest research about if it even works, and the process that companies trying to make COVID-19 treatments have to navigate to get FDA approval.  >>> See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

Existing home sales dropped 8.5% in March from February -- another statistic that serves to illustrate how the coronavirus pandemic has turned life as we know it on its head this year. We wanted to look at real estate in this moment, so we asked two people to help us get our heads around what's happening now and what's in store. David Wilk is Assistant Professor of Finance & Director of the Real Estate Program at Temple University's Fox School of Business. Kelly Hudson is a realtor in the Philadelphia area who gave us a great look at what all these changes mean for someone who has their boots on the ground in this industry every day.  See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

This week, some oil prices fell below $0 -- it's the latest in a series of incredible ripple effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But it turns out, there's a bit more to this story. Dr. Scott Jackson is a Visiting Professor at Villanova in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department, he teaches a course in petroleum engineering, and he joins KYW In Depth to break down all the reasons why oil went negative, discuss where he thinks the price of gas is going to go, and answer what happens if you just turn off the oil pumps. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

So, what's the economic shakeup from all this going to be? Dr. Kevin Gillen got asked that question so often, he tried see if he could find an answer. Gillen is an Economist at the Lindy Institute for Urban Innovation at Drexel University, and his research looked at the last major pandemic in Philadelphia, the Spanish Flu in 1918, to try to figure out big of an impact COVID-19 will have on the economy.  Check out his research here: https://drexel.edu/lindyinstitute/initiatives/COVID-19-research-reports/COVID-Philly-Economic-Impact/ See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

Hydroxychloroquine and Remdesivir are two of the drugs the doctors and scientists at Penn Medicine are researching right now in an all hands effort to better understand COVID-19 and develop treatments. Penn Medicine chief clinical research officer Dr. Emma Meagher joins KYW In Depth to talk about the trials they're conducting on coronavirus treatments and what they're excited about right now. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

Every morning we have a reporter's meeting at the station. We're all working from different places because of social distancing, so we do a video chat. And pretty much every time KYW Newsradio Suburban Bureau Chief Jim Melwert gets on the call from his office at home, his six year old daughter Lizzie is right next to him helping him work. We've really enjoyed having Lizzie with us in the meetings. She's always on time, and her story ideas are pretty great. So when she filed a podcast episode for us, we had to run it. Today on KYW In Depth, Lizzie Melwert joins the podcast to break down what you should and shouldn't do during the coronavirus pandemic, why she has to do school work but her little sister doesn't, what it was like losing a tooth yesterday, and then back to more thoughts about coronavirus.  "It's weird because I'm always here. I never have to pack my lunch, I never have to pack anything. I'm always at home." - Lizzie  See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

This is the last episode of our series checking in with people from different parts of the world to see the ways their day to day life is similar or different to life here in the Philly area and the United States. The coronavirus pandemic started in China, and early this month, lockdowns were lifted in Wuhan. For episode number four, we're checking in with Darius Pleasant, in Beijing. Darius went to high school in the Philly area, and he’s been teaching English in Beijing for about a year now. We called him to ask what returning to normal has looked like from where he is. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

This is the third episode of a series we're doing on KYW In Depth trying to put this pandemic in perspective -- checking in with people from different parts of the globe and seeing how their lives right now are similar or different to what day to day life looks like here. In Germany, officials started warning people about the coronavirus back in the beginning of the year. And it's kind of an anomaly compared to its European neighbors when it comes to coronavirus cases. Today we go to Stuttgart to talk with Brian Wagner. He's 25 years old, and we called him up to ask what life in Germany is like during this pandemic. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

This is part two of our series looking at life in other parts of the world during the coronavirus pandemic. Today, we're checking in on Jeff Rey and his daughter Juliette in France. Jeff lives in Lille, France with his wife. It's about two hours north of Paris. Juliette is a student who was interning in Kenya before she decided to come home. Jeff and Juliette join KYW In Depth to talk about living under lockdown in France and how people are doing over there. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

In the midst of social distancing and way more isolation than we're using to living with, it's easy to forget that you're not the only person going through this incredible, intense disruption of lifestyles and routine. This is happening everywhere. We wanted to check in on some people from different places around the world who are all doing the same thing we're doing, to see how things might be different in France or Germany or China than they are in Philadelphia or South Jersey. Or who knows, maybe they're the same. We're making a few episodes checking in on people from different places, but we're going to start in Spain, with Santiago Martin. He's a high school teacher, and KYW In Depth producer Charlotte Reese called him to find out what the restrictions are in Spain, how people are dealing with the pandemic, and the ways that life has changed since the world was upended by a virus.  See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

More than 22 million people became newly unemployed in the last month, after another 5.2 million filed claims last week. One of the more interesting proposals that been talked about a lot recently has been giving unemployed Americans $2,000 a month to help alieve the pain until unemployment returns to pre-coronavirus levels. David Fiorenza, Assistant Professor of the Practice in Economics at the Villanova School of Business joins KYW In Depth to break down last week's additional unemployment claims, what he thinks about another cash infusion, the actions taken by the federal reserve and what's next for small businesses after the rescue fund ran dry.  See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

Can you contract COVID-19 multiple times? What is herd immunity, and will we get to the point where we have it before a vaccine is released? What happens if we open everything up too quickly?  How long will we have to practice social distancing? A month? A year? Longer than that? Dr. Helen Koenig, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine and an infectious disease expert at Penn Medicine joins KYW In Depth to answer these questions and more, breaking down what we understand about COVID-19, and what we still need to learn. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

As all the parents who have had to become homeschoolers suddenly during the coronavirus pandemic can attest to -- teachers are among the closest professions we have in the real world to superheroes. But a newfound appreciation for the people who educate our kids is far from the only way the coronavirus pandemic has made its mark on education in America. Dr. Cori Brown, associate dean in Rowan University's College of Education joins KYW In Depth to discuss the biggest challenges teachers are facing right now and what we are learning from the abrupt closure of our schools.  See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

Retail sales were hammered by the coronavirus pandemic in March, dropping 8.7%. Most stores will reopen after social distancing guidelines are relaxed, but how many will find themselves doing business as normal? And in the case of malls and department stores, will Americans even want to shop in places designed to attract crowds? Dr. Michael Solomon, Professor of Marketing at St. Joseph's University joins KYW In Depth to tackle the dismal retail numbers and talk about how the coronavirus pandemic could have an impact on the future of how we shop. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

It seems like every part of society has been changed in some way by the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing and in Philadelphia that includes the court system. KYW's crime and justice reporter Kristen Johanson talked with three judicial leaders in Philadelphia, Judge Idee Fox, President Judge for the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia and Chair of the Administrative Governing Board, Judge Leon Tucker, Supervising Judge of the Criminal Section of the 1st Judicial District, and Judge Patrick Dugan, President Judge of Municipal Court to break down what is happening in Philadelphia courts during the COVID-19 pandemic, both at the municipal level and at the common pleas level. The judges wanted to clarify for people who may be witnesses or have been subpoenaed to appear in Philadelphia court: the courts are closed from now until May 4th. Check online for more details: https://courts.phila.gov/ See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

With the closure of restaurants and food service facilities, the coronavirus pandemic has thrown a major wrench into the agricultural supply chain. John Urbanchuk, Assistant Professor and Chair of Agribusiness at Delaware Valley University joins KYW In Depth to break down how the markets farmers rely on have been shut down, which farmers are being hit the hardest, and how long it will take for things to get back to normal when the pandemic has run its course.    See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

What if you could fight the spread of COVID-19 with your smartphone? Apple and Google are working on tracing software designed to tell people when they've come in contact with someone who has the virus. A team from Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced last week that it's developing a system based on Bluetooth. So what would a system like this look like, and how it would work? Dr. Karl Morris, associate professor of computer science at Temple University joins KYW In Depth to explain what contact tracing is, how it could work in the United States, how developers are addressing privacy concerns, and if it's possible to fool the system. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

Not all pandemics are created equally. The global response to COVID-19 is unlike anything in memory, especially compared with the response to past outbreaks, like H1N1 in 2009. Dr. Ebbing Lautenbach, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Pennsylvania joins KYW In Depth to talk about how this coronavirus compares to outbreaks like SARS and Swine Flu, what is it about the virus that makes it so contagious, and the race to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

Credit card debt is growing, more people are having trouble paying bills, and it's up in the air which businesses will still be here when social distancing guidelines are eased. This is part two of our conversation with Beverly Harzog, credit card expert and consumer finance analyst for US News and World Report. Harzog is back on KYW In Depth to talk about what the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic might look like for personal finances, small businesses, and larger financial institutions. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

Are you turning to credit cards to pay for the basics during the coronavirus shutdown? Many Americans are, and because this is such an extraordinary situation, the best practices and advice for managing money are changing. Beverly Harzog, credit card expert and consumer advocate and a consumer finance analyst for US News and World Report joins KYW In Depth to talk about using credit cards, how to get relief from creditors during the coronavirus shutdown, and the best ways to spend the check the federal government is sending out. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

If you're anything like us, there's a good chance you've consumed more information about pandemics, diseases, and health emergencies in the past month than in your entire life before that. One thing that keeps coming up -- Philadelphia has played a central role in some pretty extraordinary situations.  In this episode Curator of the Mütter Museum Anna Dhody, President and Chief Executive Officer of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia George Wohlreich, and retired KYW Newsradio Suburban Bureau Chief Jay Lloyd join KYW In Depth to talk about three different health emergencies in Philadelphia history: the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1793, the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918, and the 1976 Legionnaires' disease outbreak at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

You think back to the best times of high school and you might think of graduation, or prom, or senior week. Maybe the last school play or dance recital, the last year on the soccer or field hockey team. For seniors right now, there's a very real possibility that none of these things will happen. KYW's Suzanne Monaghan talked with five students, four high school seniors and one college senior, about how they're feeling about losing the last part of their senior year. She also talked with a therapist to get tips for seniors and parents who have a senior at home struggling with watching their time in high school end this way. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

Right now, we're living in a world with no sports. They'll be back and chances are, pro sports will eventually look the same. But what about college sports? Losing the NCAA Tournament in March was a huge financial blow. Could that landscape shift? Could some schools cut back on programs or maybe decide to eliminate sports altogether? Dr. Karen Weaver, Associate Clinical Professor at Drexel University, and Dr. Jeremy Jordan, Associate Dean in the school of Sports, Tourism, and Hospitality Management at Temple University join KYW In Depth to talk about the impact this pandemic is having on college sports, what the long term consequences could be and how the conversation will change if a college football season is shuddered because of COVID-19. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

80% of Americans say flattening the curve during this pandemic is more important than their personal freedom. 4% percent of us think the bars should be open. 21% of us think golf courses and gun stores should be open. These are just a few of the findings SurveyUSA has been getting from polling during the coronavirus pandemic. SurveyUSA founder and CEO Jay Leve joins KYW In Depth to break down some of the insights he's gotten from the polling, and what it says about how we are feeling and how we are doing while we put life on hold to fight COVID-19. See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.