A new study by UC Davis researchers confirms the low likelihood that SARS-CoV-2 contamination on hospital surfaces is infectious. The study, published June 24 in PLOS ONE, is the original report on recovering near-complete SARS-CoV-2 genome sequences directly from surface swabs. 

A new study from the University of California, Davis, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai confirms that surgical masks effectively reduce outgoing airborne particles from talking or coughing, even after allowing for leakage around the edges of the mask. The results are published June 8 in Scientific Reports.

A partnership between UC Davis and Maurice J. Gallagher, Jr., chairman and CEO of Allegiant Travel Company, has led to a new rapid COVID-19 test.

A recent study published Nature Scientific Reports shows the novel method to be 98.3% accurate for positive COVID-19 tests and 96% for negative tests.  

More than one in four COVID-19 patients develop long-haul symptoms lasting for months – even if they had mild cases, according to a handful of studies that have emerged recently. 

Doctors have been estimating one-quarter to one-third of COVID-19 patients become long haulers, as many patients call themselves. Now, four studies published since February confirm that range. They show that 27% to nearly 33% of patients who had COVID-19 but did not need to be hospitalized later developed some form of long-haul COVID. 

It may be our longing for friends and family. It may be instinctive. It may be that we’re exhausted. Whatever the reasons, many of us see familiar people as less of a COVID-19 risk, psychologists say. 

This phenomenon is not about people inside your household. And it reaches beyond social pods – which heath experts say are often iffy. New studies show that we almost instinctively drop our guard with people we know although we often have no clue about their health protocols. 

As COVID-19 sweeps the world, related viruses quietly circulate among wild animals. A new study shows how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and SARS-CoV-1, which caused the 2003 SARS outbreak, are related to each other. The work, published recently in the journal Virus Evolution, helps scientists better understand the evolution of these viruses, how they acquired the ability to infect humans and which other viruses may be poised for human spillover.

There is bad news and good news about the COVID-19 variants emerging around the world and in California. 

The bad news: Studies show three major variants, the ones first found in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil, are more infectious, cause more serious cases of COVID-19 and increase the risk of dying. 

There is bad news and good news about the COVID-19 variants emerging around the world and in California. 

The bad news: Studies show three major variants, the ones first found in the UK, South Africa and Brazil, are more infectious, cause more serious cases of COVID-19 and increase the risk of dying. 

Through its free community COVID-19 test operations, Healthy Davis Together and the UC Davis Genome Center identified the first known case of the B.1.1.7 variant of the virus SARS-CoV-2 in the Sacramento region.

News reports indicate COVID-19 vaccines are not getting out soon enough nor in adequate supplies to most regions, but there may be a larger underlying problem than shortages. A University of California, Davis, study found that more than a third of people nationwide are either unlikely or at least hesitant to get a COVID-19 vaccine when it becomes available to them.