Health Sciences In The Media

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can relieve pain, according to a new study by University of Arizona Health Sciences researchers. The finding may explain why nearly half of all people who get COVID-19 experience few or no symptoms, even though they are able to spread the disease, according to the study's corresponding author Rajesh Khanna, a professor in the UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson's Department of Pharmacology.

The Centers for Disease Control is warning Americans to stay home during the holidays, after more than 250,000 people have died from COVID-19. In Arizona, the virus is surging. Thursday the Arizona Department of Public Health reported more than 4,100 new cases which is the highest number of cases in one day since mid-July. Modeling from both the ASU Biodesign Institute and the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health warn of dire days ahead if current COVID-19 trends remain constant.

Health experts say that if you do need to travel, they recommend that you wear both a face mask and a face shield. You should sanitize frequently and get tested for the coronavirus before you visit with others outside your household. "If there's any possibility of limiting contact with others and limiting it to outdoors as opposed to indoors, all these things would be preferable," said Dr. Shad Marvasti, an associate professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

It's not uncommon for healthcare workers to encounter patients who still think COVID-19 is a hoax -- even when they have the disease themselves. Researchers at the University of Arizona's College of Nursing have also been hearing from exasperated healthcare workers about this issue. Jessica Rainbow, PhD, RN, is monitoring a voicemail box she set up to capture their stories. "I hear a lot of hopelessness," Rainbow told MedPage Today. "There really isn't an end in sight, as far as when this will go away. It's continuing to build and they're already feeling so burned out."

Ronald Weinstein, MD, FCAP, FATA, a professor of pathology and director and co-founder of the Arizona Telemedicine Program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, has received the Health Care Heroes 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Phoenix Business Journal.

Arizona public health officials are readying for a rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine in the coming months, but data by health researchers on flu vaccinations suggests that Arizonans might opt not to seek out the vaccination. "Every state has different layers of challenges," said Dr. Shad Marvasti, director of public health, prevention and health promotion with the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix and a physician who has specialized in chronic diseases. "I think the Arizona culture is such that there is more questioning of vaccines."

Arizona was in the bottom tier in three of six categories in a new American Lung Association report, which put the state dead-last for the number of patients who receive treatment after getting a diagnosis of lung cancer. Dr. Dan Derksen, associate vice president for Health Equity, Outreach & Interprofessional Activities at the University of Arizona Health Sciences, said that improvements in lung cancer have made the disease less of a “death sentence,” but the key remains screening for the disease to reduce mortality.

Another at-home COVID-19 test has received FDA authorization, joining hundreds of other at-home tests that have circulated since the pandemic began. Public health experts warn some of them may not be legitimate. Dr. Shad Marvasti, director of Public Health and Prevention at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix, is encouraged by the new test. He says accessibility to tests that can deliver rapid results will help people stop the spread of COVID-19. But he is encouraging consumers to do their homework before using any at-home test, even if it's been approved by the FDA.

In a Thursday report developed by nearly two dozen researchers from Arizona State University and University of Arizona Health Sciences, researchers say that Arizona will likely surpass the prior peak of ICU COVID-19 patients as soon as Dec. 18 with holiday travel and by mid-January with current transmission and no increase in holiday travel.

Joe Gerald, an associate professor at the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and an epidemiologist working on modeling the COVID-19 pandemic, has been named to Arizona Sen.-elect Mark Kelly's 13-person bipartisan transition team. Gerald said he is encouraged by recent reports of two promising vaccines now in the works, though he cautioned against using such announcements as an excuse to relax.