To pay tribute to the contributions of its honorees, the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona will be holding “The 20 Days for 20 Years” celebration.

Continuing coverage: Q&A with Environmental microbiologists and public health researchers at the University of Arizona: Kelly Reynolds, professor and chair of the Community, Environment and Policy Department at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and Charles Gerba, an environmental microbiologist from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Through a National Institutes of Health program called “All of Us,” tribal nations across Indian Country are pushing federal scientists to conduct disease research that serves Indigenous peoples in a meaningful way. “We’re concerned about access to data as well as release of data without tribal permission,” said Stephanie Russo Carroll, a professor in the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. “What the pandemic has shed a light on is the need for tribes to have access to external data.”

The number of new COVID-19 cases in Pima County has fallen in recent weeks from a high in mid-September. “Things aren’t too bad,” said Dr. Joe Gerald, an associate professor with the University of Arizona’s Zuckerman College of Public Health. “Our hospitals aren’t overwhelmed. Case counts are kind of low. It’s this very weird place where complacency is our biggest enemy right now. While we’re doing well in the moment, we’re not that far away from being back in some of those situations that we faced back in June.”

More nightclubs in Scottsdale reopened this weekend after being shut down for reportedly violating COVID-19 guidelines. Dr. Shad Marvasti, director of public health, prevention and health promotion with the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, said regulation will be crucial. Even with guidelines in place, he said it is important to know the risks. "Any event that you do, with or without the mask, if you do something indoors versus outdoors, there is six times the increased likelihood of spreading it or getting it," Marvasti said.

As more than 200,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, cancer patients – who are often immunocompromised and depend on regular treatments to prevent the progression of the disease – are particularly at risk for dying by the potentially deadly virus. "Most cancers themselves put patients into immune-compromised states. That state is profoundly reinforced and worsened by the treatments that we give," said Dr. Julie Bauman, deputy director of the University of Arizona Cancer Center.

Daniel Latt, MD/PhD, associate professor and orthopaedic surgeon at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson and Naohiro Shibuya, DPM, from Texas A&M College of Medicine, are working with MedShape Inc. on research and development of a compression fusion device using superelastic nickel-titanium (NiTiNOL) for use in diabetic foot limb salvage surgery. The study is funded by a Technology/Therapeutic Development Award from the U.S. Department of Defense Peer-Reviewed Medical Research Program.

Calendar, Announcements, college-specific pages are among the new features in this one-stop shop for Health Sciences news and information.

Julie Bauman is an oncologist and the deputy director of the University of Arizona Cancer Center. As a specialist who works with cancer patients every day, she understands their unique vulnerability to COVID-19. Due to this increased risk, doctors at the UA Cancer Center noticed a decrease in patients coming in for preventive screenings at the height of the pandemic, resulting in an increase in advanced cases arriving at the cancer center as the number of coronavirus cases declines.

The virus that causes COVID-19 acts as a pain reliever, suggests the findings of a new study that could offer “one possible explanation for the unrelenting spread” of the disease, researchers said. Researchers with the University of Arizona Health Sciences said SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, may inadvertently function as a pain reliever, which “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.