COVID-19 in the News

Coronaviruses discovered in Laotian bats are surprisingly adept at infecting human cells, showing that such deadly features can indeed evolve outside of a lab. "That really puts to bed any notion that this virus had to have been concocted, or somehow manipulated in a lab, to be so good at infecting humans," said Michael Worobey, a University of Arizona virologist who was not involved in the work.

The World Health Organization has requested access to China's wildlife farming areas such as the mountains of Enshi prefecture, an agricultural corner of China's Hubei province, calling it a key step in the search for the origins of the coronavirus. Beijing has denied the requests. China's government and the WHO say the likeliest origin of the pandemic is natural transmission through wildlife. Yet little progress has been made in establishing a definitive natural pathway from a bat to a Wuhan market – or for any competing theory, for that matter – because of the Chinese government's refusal to grant scientists access. "We really need to find out more about what viruses are circulating in those bats" in the Enshi caves, said Michael Worobey, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Arizona. "That kind of proximity of farmed animals and bats that could be carrying coronaviruses is exactly the kind of thing we worry about."

The World Health Organization continues to search for the possible origin of COVID-19 inside bat caves in China. "That kind of proximity of farmed animals and bats that could be carrying coronaviruses is exactly the kind of thing we worry about," said Michael Worobey, head of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Arizona.

A study by University of Arizona Health Sciences researchers finds patients undergoing active chemotherapy have a lower immune response to two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, but a third dose increases the response.

At least 140,000 children across the U.S. have lost a primary or secondary caregiver to COVID-19, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Pediatrics. What's more, researchers found children of color account for 65 percent of children orphaned from COVID-19through June. That's more than 91,000 children of color, compared to 51,000 white children. Indigenous children also suffer unique challenges compounding the deaths, said Hopi tribe member Dr. Felina Cordova-Marks, a University of Arizona professor and health disparities expert, who founded the Southern Arizona Urban Native Indigenous COVID Relief program. "The loss of a caregiver will definitely impact mental health and all aspects of health among American Indian children, as it may compound historical trauma," she said. "As Native Indigenous people, we look at health holistically with a loss of life and loss of culture affecting all of these. Resilience is woven into us as a people as well. Culture is connected to resilience."

A study by University of Arizona Health Sciences researchers finds patients undergoing active chemotherapy have a lower immune response to two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, but a third dose increases the response. "We wanted to make sure we understand the level of protection the COVID-19 vaccines are offering our cancer patients, especially as restrictions were being eased and more contagious variants were starting to spread," said Dr. Rachna Shroff, chief of gastrointestinal medical oncology at the University of Arizona Cancer Center and director of the Cancer Center Clinical Trials Office.

PBS NewsHour highlighted many of the University of Arizona's COVID-19 mitigation strategies, including vaccinations, testing and wastewater-based epidemiology. University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins, Ian Pepper and undergraduate students in the College of Fine Arts are interviewed.

A timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic quotes University of Arizona evolutionary biologist Michael Worobey as saying there were "so many more opportunities for non-research-connected activity to bring these viruses" to Wuhan, such as via China's robust wildlife trade.

University of Arizona immunologist Deepta Bhattacharya said it remains unknown how long the extra protection of a COVID-19 booster shot will last. "The question sort of becomes, when do we need a booster versus when do we want one. I think that's the distinction we need to have right now. Getting a booster to stop a cold or mild flu-like illness, that's a different thing than worrying about whether or not you might survive the illness."

A photo of a vaccine certificate has been shared hundreds of times in multiple posts on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok alongside a claim that it shows the "world's oldest vaccine certificate" that was issued in 1721 under the Ottoman Empire. However, the claim is false. Benjamin Fortna, professor of history and director of the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona, said the year at the bottom of the certificate corresponds to 1906 in the Gregorian calendar. "The date given at the end of the document states 27 Agustos 1322, which is given in the Rumi (Ottoman administrative solar) calendar," he told AFP, adding that he used the online calendar conversion provided by the Turkish Historical Society (Turk Tarih Kurumu). "What is clear is that the document dates from 1906," he said.