Arizona continues to have one of the highest COVID infection rates in the country, and a Tucson zip code has one of the highest case counts in the state. Researchers on the University of Arizona’s COVID modeling team said the 85706 zip code has remained a hot spot since Nov. 1, 2020.

People who have strokes or mini-strokes often experience a wide range of sleep disorders in the months that follow, a problem that can put them at increased risk for subsequent strokes, an analysis shows. "It's important to note that sleep is a fundamental part of our biology, as is breathing and eating. It's not optional," said Michael Grandner, director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona. "It's something that our body needs to function and that's why it implicates so many different systems. It is critically important for both heart and brain health."

The pandemic has disrupted almost everything in our lives, including the quality of our sleep. Michael Grandner, PhD, the director of the Sleep & Health Research Program at the University of Arizona, talks about what his expertise can tell us about sleeping and dreaming during a global crisis, and tips for better "sleep hygiene."

Pain is a subjective response with multiple features and components, said Frank Porreca, PhD, professor of pharmacology and anesthesiology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson.

The university will start the spring semester on Jan. 13 in stage one of its reentry plan.

UArizona Health Sciences immunobiologist Deepta Bhattacharya, PhD, says the COVID-19 vaccine is safe, and he will take it when it becomes available.

Mind controlling microchips and permanently altered DNA are two widely shared conspiracy theories about what the COVID-19 vaccine might do to anyone who takes it. Dr. Elizabeth Connick, an infectious disease expert at the University of Arizona says neither one of those things are true. She's so confident, in fact, that she already took the first dose of Pfizer's vaccine.

As each month passes amid this ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the daily number of infections has continued to march in one direction only—steadily upward. Dr. Joe K. Gerald, associate professor of Public Health Policy and Management at the University of Arizona, said, “For most states, (the data indicate) that viral transmission is broadly increasing. Reporting national estimates only has limited utility because each state is fighting its own COVID-19 battle. The U.S. figures then reflect in a rough sense the average win/loss ratio among the fifty states weighted by population."

Los Angeles County has been so overwhelmed it is running out of oxygen, with ambulance crews instructed to use oxygen only for their worst-case patients. Arizona, once heralded for turning the corner after a summer surge, now has 69 of every 100,000 residents hospitalized with the virus — the highest rate in the country. "The virus is just basically transmitting almost uninhibited through our population,” said Dr. Joe Gerald, who has been tracking the spread of the virus and was among those urging a shelter-in-place order.