Dr. Funda Bachini, assistant program director of the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Phoenix Children's Hospital, discusses mental health strategies for children who are going back to school during the coronavirus pandemic.

Experts say there could be some serious unintended consequences to kids' health due to excessive screen time. "It's something we call accommodation spasm, where the lenses of the eye are so accustomed to focusing at a certain distance, that when they change that up, they get really blurry vision. Other kids will get things like headaches," said Gary Kirkilas, a pediatrician with the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.

The American Academy of Pediatrics publishes its findings weekly and, while comparisons are difficult because states report differently, the data as of Aug. 20 shows Arizona leads the nation with 975 children and teens hospitalized, 12 deaths and a positivity rate of 17.8 percent. Dr. Katri Typpo, division chief of Pediatric Critical Care at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, has worked with colleagues to reach out to other pediatric intensive care units around the world. That information is now being shared regularly online between professionals from 161 medical sites worldwide.

Experts say Arizona stands as an example of just how badly the coronavirus can devastate a region – and how aggressive action can bend the case curve down. "While a state-level mandate may have been more effective, I do sometimes wonder if the decentralization and ability to tailor the mandate to a specific community's needs may have led to more buy-in and uptake of masks overall," said Kacey Ernst, director of the epidemiology program at the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. "I have been impressed with the sharp increase in mask use that I personally witnessed."

SaiOx, a Tucson-based technology startup, has received a patent from the U.S. Patent Office for its new respiratory assist device aimed at assisting COVID-19 patients. The device, Hespiro, delivers both helium and oxygen to the user while capturing exhaled gas in a closed-off "rebreather" system. It was developed by Dr. Sairam Parthasarathy, a University of Arizona pulmonologist at the College of Medicine - Tucson, and Dr. Marvin J. Slepian, a Regents Professor and cardiologist in the UArizona Sarver Heart Center.

Arizona passed 200,000 COVID-19 cases this week and is likely to register its 5,000th death this weekend, but despite those somber milestones experts said the numbers are all moving in the right direction – for now. "I think we've gone through several experiences now where we've let up on some of these things and opened a bit too quickly," said Dr. Daniel Derksen, director of the University of Arizona Center for Rural Health. "People got relaxed and less careful about going to places like bars, the public congregating in large gatherings, or even large numbers of people not wearing masks."

Though no single drug is a "game-changer," experts say medications and improved standard care seem to be reducing death rates. "A common mistake is to get excited and be chasing things that may seem esoteric, and to abandon the things we know work well," said Dr. Christian Bime, a researcher and ICU medical director at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson. "Good old-fashioned public health may seem boring, but it works."

In addition to technical challenges, at-home learning also carries an array of stressors that can weigh on families. Patricia Haynes, an associate professor in the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, is interviewed.

University of Arizona immunobiologist Deepta Bhattacharya from the College of Medicine – Tucson and New York Times science journalist Katherine J. Wu discuss the complicated and varied response of the immune system to SARS-CoV2 – and why current research suggests we can be optimistic about gaining long-lasting immunity from future COVID-19 vaccines.

How the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health pivoted to keep its annual camp up and running during a summer without in-person activities.