"We don't have anywhere near the population exposed, infected or recovered or somehow immunized to COVID-19 yet. We're not going to get to herd immunity until many more people are exposed to the virus or if we have a vaccine which will enable more people to get immunity," said Dr. Shad Marvasti, director of public health for the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.

There are now more than 25 million confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) across the globe. "We basically have 50 laboratory experiments going on right now, and every state has a slightly different policy approach," said Joe Gerald, an associate professor at the University of Arizona's Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, in an Aug. 24 story in The New York Times. "If we get complacent, this thing could get out of control again. And we'll have even less safety margin to manage it because we're starting from a higher place."

In honor of Dr. Fayez K. Ghishan's 25th anniversary as director of the Steele Children's Research Center at the University of Arizona, members of the Phoenix Women's Board of the Steele Children's Research Center have contributed $5 million to establish an endowment in his name.

Gov. Doug Ducey and Arizona health officials held a press conference at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix at 3 p.m. regarding influenza and flu shots.

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."