In his latest COVID-19 modeling report, Dr. Joe Gerald, a professor of public health policy at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, noted a "large, unexpected" decline in cases last week. He speculated the holiday closures of universities and K-12 schools might have played a role in the improving metrics, which he cautioned could be short-lived.

Dr. Shad Marvasti, director of public health, prevention and health promotion at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, said that despite encouraging recent COVID-19 data in Arizona, it's still too early to tell if the state's numbers are trending downward.

Monoclonal antibody therapy can dramatically reduce the need for hospitalization from COVID-19 in some of the most at-risk populations, but only about a quarter of the doses that were shipped to hospitals across the country has been used. Dr. Cheryl O'Malley, is a professor of internal medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix, and has been trying to get the word out about monoclonal antibody therapy. "We need to add this to the arsenal of all the different things we're trying," said O'Malley.

In recent weeks, Arizona and Pima County have seen a record surge in the rate of positive serology tests. At the same time, COVID-19 cases recently dipped from one week to the next. Both metrics, however, still remain at high levels. "It's probably accurate in the sense that ... more Arizonans have been infected and recovered. I think that's an obvious statement that serology doesn't necessarily need to help us answer," said Joe Gerald, an associate professor at the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

To accommodate the rapid expansion of immunization, the county is planning multiple drive-thru vaccination centers, including one on the University of Arizona Mall. “The University of Arizona succeeded last year in developing one of the country’s most effective operations for providing diagnostic and antibody tests for COVID-19 to our campus and the community, and we are well-positioned to do the same for delivering COVID-19 vaccines,” said Dr. Michael D. Dake, senior vice president for UArizona Health Sciences.

State health leaders are reporting the highest percentage of positive COVID antibody tests since the pandemic began. About 40% of serology tests have come back positive for the week of Jan. 17, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Joe Gerald, an associate professor at the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, is interviewed.

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