Arizona reported its second highest number of new cases Saturday with 8,076, and reached a new record positivity rate at 25%, indicating that the viral transmission is increasing faster than the case counts indicate, according to an ongoing study by the University of Arizona Zuckerman College of Public. This story was picked up by 48 media outlets.

The University of Arizona has finished construction on a storage facility that can hold more than 1.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a university press release. “The University of Arizona is poised to be instrumental in receiving, managing and distributing COVID-19 vaccine,” said David T. Harris, who is the executive director of the University of Arizona Health Sciences Biorepository.

In the last 10 days, epidemiologist Alexandra Shilen with the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson and her team of contact tracers have contacted more than 700 people in Pima County. "Our job is to keep our community as healthy as possible and slow the spread, hopefully, stop the spread of COVID-19," said Shilen. Her team is made up of 330 paid and volunteer staff, many associated with the University of Arizona. They work seven days a week and operate 100% remotely in a virtual call center in connection with the Arizona Department of Public Health and the University of Arizona.

Dr. Joe Gerald from the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health released a new report on COVID-19 transmission saying that the state was "all but locked in a major humanitarian crisis" ahead of Christmas and New Year's.

A COVID-19 vaccine made by the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer was authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday, following a 17–4 vote of confidence from an advisory panel of independent experts. "Overall, there is not much to argue with here in terms of efficacy," said Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson. "It just looks great no matter how you look at it."

Paloma Beamer, associate professor at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and president of the International Society of Exposure Science, says increasing ventilation in your home is one of the most important things you can do to protect yourself during a pandemic. She suggests using filters with higher MERV ratings, which is the strength rating of the filter.

The Phoenix VA Health Care System Research Space will advance medical discoveries, new technologies and clinical care on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus.

The University of Arizona Health Sciences is developing a lung ultrasound education program for rural emergency medicine providers to better diagnose COVID-19.

Paul Stamets, an advocate for the medical benefits of mushrooms, has donated $50,000 to the University of Arizona Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, to fund medical scholarships to promote the integration of different medical traditions in modern medicine.

For a health condition that can be so challenging to live with, fibromyalgia is often maddeningly hard to diagnose. “Some people might assume that if they have joint pain, they must have fibromyalgia,” says Mohab Ibrahim, MD, PhD, an associate professor in the department of anesthesiology and pharmacology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson and director of the chronic pain clinic at Banner-University Medical Center. “But don’t just assume this. You need tests to rule out other disorders since the treatment for fibromyalgia is different from the treatment for various autoimmune disorders.