Within shoeboxes, beef jerky bags and TV bubble wrap, lie tiny white packets stamped with a very clear "DO NOT EAT" warning. These are silica gel packets, a solution for people everywhere looking to keep their products at perfect humidity levels. Since there can be confusion sometimes over what exactly is in the packet, the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center recommends calling poison control if someone swallows a desiccant packet, just in case.

The University of Arizona Health Sciences received a $1.5 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support research to examine how being a firefighter affects women's stress levels, as well as their risk of cancer and reproductive health issues.

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Tucson nonprofit Integrative Touch for Kids is using telehealth to reach out and help kids and caregivers – including physicians and other health-care providers – to care for themselves during the pandemic. "By helping to care for the caregivers and heal the healers, the program has an incredible ripple effect when you consider all of the patients, colleagues and staff that the providers impact," said Dr. Elizabeth Kyle Meehan, program director of the Family Medicine Residency at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson South Campus.

Dr. Shad Marvasti, director of public health, prevention and health promotion at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, discusses the efficacy of current COVID-19 vaccines.

"To put it simply, our GI tract is sensitive to all types of emotion – anxiety, sadness, anger, elation," said Janelle Thompson, a clinical health psychologist and assistant professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson who specializes in gastrointestinal diseases. "A clear example of this is the nausea or intestinal discomfort that many people feel before giving a presentation."

A free virtual symposium brings experts together to discuss emerging viruses, vaccines and therapeutics, pandemic response and health policy.

According to the state, more than 2,000,000 Arizonans have received the COVID-19 vaccine. Some people are still hesitant to roll up their sleeves to get their shots. Joe Gerald, associate professor of public health at the University of Arizona said while the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has a lower effective rate, people should not be steered from getting the vaccine. "I think concerns around the effectiveness are misplaced," Gerald said. "It does an equally good job and keeps patients out of the hospital, and keeps them from dying."

Not enough of the population has been vaccinated, and variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19 remain an unknown factor, said Dr. Farshad Fani Marvasti, a physician and associate professor at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, who called the governor's executive order premature.