High levels of community spread, a category that currently engulfs almost the entire state of Arizona, puts everyone at some risk, though unvaccinated people not wearing a mask face the most serious risks. "They have no protection against the virus," said Farshad Fani Marvasti, MD, an associate professor and director of the public health, prevention and health promotion curriculum at the College of Medicine – Phoenix.

In Arizona and around the United States, hospitals are noticing a shortage in the number of nurses available to work around the clock to care for both COVID-19 patients and those with other conditions. Betty Parisek , EdD, MSN, RN, a clinical assistant professor with the College of Nursing and the program director of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing Integrative Health (BSN-IH), hopes the holistic approach taught by the BSN-IH program will be a great start towards a greater number of qualified nurses in the time to come.

The Center for Innovation in Brain Science received a $15.1 million grant from the National Institutes on Aging to investigate perimenopausal brain aging.

Research conducted by Joe Gerald, MD, PhD, associate professor of public health policy and management at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, shows the rate of COVID-19 transmission among children is poised to surpass that of older age groups for the first time. “With continued K–12 in-person instruction, plus opening of our major universities, there will be additional pressure on transmission among children and young adults," Dr. Gerald said.

College Researchers Designed Novel Molecular Diagnostics Technology to Monitor the Health of Four Crew Members during First All-Civilian Mission to Orbit

Part one of a two-part series on how the pandemic intensified a sense of purpose and prompted lasting changes in education, research and outreach.

Dr. Koenraad Van-Doorslaer, PhD, an assistant professor of virology and immunobiology at the College of Medicine – Tucson, says the most effective mask is the N95, usually reserved for healthcare workers, followed by the KN95. "Regardless of what type of mask people are wearing, I think it's important that we wear something," Van-Doorslaer said.

Deepta Bhattacharya, PhD, an immunologist at the College of Medicine – Tucson, explains how COVID-19 vaccines provide lasting immune durability. "The quality of the antibody improves over time. It takes far fewer of those new antibodies to protect you. So I think that worrying about antibody decline is not something that's productive," Bhattacharya says. Note: This content appeared on more than 60 local NPR affiliate websites.