Experts say getting infected with COVID-19 a second time is rare, but it can happen. "Currently, only a small number of cases have been shown convincingly to be reinfection," said Dr. Elizabeth Connick, chief of the infectious diseases division at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson. "I suspect that we're going to learn that reinfection occurs a lot more frequently."

Scarring of lungs, shortness of breath, lack of smell and inflammation of the heart, are but some of the ailments COVID-19 leaves in patients long after the acute illness has passed. “We’ve also seen these long-term COVID symptoms with people who have been very mildly symptomatic and young and otherwise healthy. So, we don’t completely understand it,” said Dr. Shad Marvasti, from the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.

California had the worst coronavirus infection rate in the nation last week. Now, Arizona has claimed that grim distinction, with one university health expert calling it “the hot spot of the world.” Joe Gerald, a professor of public health policy and management at the University of Arizona, said the state pushed down the curve over the summer with restrictions on businesses including restaurants, bars, gyms, movie theaters and water parks.

Doctors from the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson Department of Psychiatry said they are seeing an increasing number of patients battling mental health issues. "Initially there might have been a bit of honeymoon period," Dr. Jordan Karp, Department of Psychiatry professor and chair. That period is long over. It has been almost one year since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Karp said recent events are taking a toll on many.

The antibody test developed at the UArizona Health Sciences can be used to confirm a positive antibody response after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine.

Continuing coverage: In advance of the 65th anniversary of her breast cancer diagnosis, Tucson businesswoman Ginny Clements has given $8.5 million to the University of Arizona Cancer Center.

Arizona continues to have one of the highest COVID infection rates in the country, and a Tucson zip code has one of the highest case counts in the state. Researchers on the University of Arizona’s COVID modeling team said the 85706 zip code has remained a hot spot since Nov. 1, 2020.

People who have strokes or mini-strokes often experience a wide range of sleep disorders in the months that follow, a problem that can put them at increased risk for subsequent strokes, an analysis shows. "It's important to note that sleep is a fundamental part of our biology, as is breathing and eating. It's not optional," said Michael Grandner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona. "It's something that our body needs to function and that's why it implicates so many different systems. It is critically important for both heart and brain health."

Los Angeles-based CO Architects recently won a 2020 American Architecture Award for its work on the $128 million University of Arizona Health Sciences Innovation Building (HSIB) in Tucson, Ariz.

Family members of a Peoria woman who died this week say they cannot fulfill one of her final wishes. Dr. Shad Marvasti with the College of Medicine – Phoenix says most medical schools and organizations across the country aren't taking bodies of people who died from COVID-19. "There's real concern with the risks that the body then poses for transmitting the virus to those students or researchers or anyone who comes into contact with it," said Marvasti.