Kelly Reynolds, a professor at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and chair of the Department of Community Environment and Policy, discusses microbiology, water quality, COVID-19 and infections.

Often, cleaning, sanitizing, and disinfecting are terms people use interchangeably. However, there is a difference between the three. “Cleaning is the physical removal of visible soils and organic matter,” explains Dr. Kelly Reynolds, professor and director of the Environment, Exposure Science and Risk Assessment Center at the University of Arizona. “Disinfection is the process of killing at least 99.99 percent of bacteria and other microbes, such as viruses.”

Joe Gerald, an associate professor in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and a member of the University of Arizona's COVID-19 modeling team, warns of a worsening COVID-19 surge during the Christmas-New Year holiday.

The Tucson office of engineering consulting firm Terracon presented a $6,000 check from its foundation to the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. The grants fund scholarships for students enrolled in environmental and occupational health, industrial hygiene and environmental health sciences graduate and Ph.D. programs.

The University of Arizona has finished construction on a storage facility that can hold more than 1.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a university press release. “The University of Arizona is poised to be instrumental in receiving, managing and distributing COVID-19 vaccine,” said David T. Harris, who is the executive director of the University of Arizona Health Sciences Biorepository.

Arizona reported its second highest number of new cases Saturday with 8,076, and reached a new record positivity rate at 25%, indicating that the viral transmission is increasing faster than the case counts indicate, according to an ongoing study by the University of Arizona Zuckerman College of Public. This story was picked up by 48 media outlets.

Paloma Beamer, associate professor at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and president of the International Society of Exposure Science, says increasing ventilation in your home is one of the most important things you can do to protect yourself during a pandemic. She suggests using filters with higher MERV ratings, which is the strength rating of the filter.

In the last 10 days, epidemiologist Alexandra Shilen with the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson and her team of contact tracers have contacted more than 700 people in Pima County. "Our job is to keep our community as healthy as possible and slow the spread, hopefully, stop the spread of COVID-19," said Shilen. Her team is made up of 330 paid and volunteer staff, many associated with the University of Arizona. They work seven days a week and operate 100% remotely in a virtual call center in connection with the Arizona Department of Public Health and the University of Arizona.

Dr. Joe Gerald from the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health released a new report on COVID-19 transmission saying that the state was "all but locked in a major humanitarian crisis" ahead of Christmas and New Year's.

A COVID-19 vaccine made by the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer was authorized for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration on Friday, following a 17–4 vote of confidence from an advisory panel of independent experts. "Overall, there is not much to argue with here in terms of efficacy," said Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunologist at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Tucson. "It just looks great no matter how you look at it."