Health Sciences In The Media

The University of Arizona is reporting elevated COVID-19 cases reflective of a state-wide uptick after large gatherings occurred over the Halloween weekend, reported UA President Robert C. Robbins and campus reentry task force head Dr. Richard Carmona in a news conference Monday, Nov. 2.

As COVID-19 cases continue to surge across Arizona with 39 more deaths reported Wednesday morning, University of Arizona College of Medicine (Phoenix) Public Health Director and physician Dr. Shad Marvasti says school officials need to think about the impact the virus could have on schools as we the holiday and influenza season, suggesting they may need to go completely virtual.

In a letter to the editor, Zoe Baccam, a graduate student at the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, argued that being tired of COVID-19 and its precautions is "an invalid excuse" to not follow health and safety guidelines.

For the first time since the start of the pandemic, more than 100,000 new cases of COVID-19 were reported across the U.S. on Wednesday, according to data collected by the COVID Tracking Project. "I'm increasingly concerned that this will be a rather steep and long third wave," Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist at the University of Arizona and a member of the Federation of American Scientists' Coronavirus Task Force, told BuzzFeed News late last month.

A roundup covering ways to treat headaches caused by stress notes that, while sensitivity to light can be a trigger for some migraine sufferers, a recent University of Arizona study found exposure to green light one to two hours a day can reduce the number of headache days per month by an average of 60%.

The Association of Community Cancer Centers has honored the University of Arizona Cancer Center at Banner-University Medical Center Tucson with its 2020 Innovator Award.

Rapid tests may not be sensitive enough to detect asymptomatic people with low levels of infection, according to a new study from the University of Arizona led by Dr. David Harris. In symptomatic people, a rapid test could detect 80% of coronavirus infections found by a slower, lab-based P.C.R. test. But when the rapid test was used instead to randomly screen students and staff members who did not feel sick, it detected only 32% of positive cases.

The influenza virus that causes the flu tends to live longest on hard surfaces, says Kelly Reynolds, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona's Zuckerman College of Public Health. "Flu viruses survive for 24 to 48 hours on stainless steel and plastic," Reynolds says.

The University of Arizona Health Sciences is developing a lung ultrasound education program for rural emergency medicine providers to better diagnose COVID-19. Lung ultrasound can be particularly useful in rural emergency departments (EDs), as many lack CT scan capabilities or have limited access to COVID-19 testing. With the disparate impact of COVID-19 on rural populations in Arizona, it is important to expand use of the imaging tool across the state.

Recognizing that Thanksgiving poses an increased risk of COVID-19 transmission due to holiday travel, the University of Arizona will test students before the holiday and switch to remote learning after. Current plans do include a return to in-person classes to start the spring semester, but the UA could still revert to online-only classes, according to Dr. Richard Carmona, director of the re-entry task force, if cases continue to increase locally and nationally.