Facilities Management and researchers are collecting and analyzing samples from the campus sewer system as one more tool to potentially identify and halt an outbreak of COVID-19.

Samples collected so far — all at the wastewater treatment plant — have returned mostly negative results. The team occasionally detected low levels of the coronavirus in samples collected in late August and September, consistent with cases of COVID-19 reported by the campus.

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Four UC Davis research centers will share a $3.7 million grant to offer free COVID-19 testing for agricultural workers in the Central Valley, where the coronavirus pandemic has reached alarming levels, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced Wednesday.

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Although COVID-19 science has raced forward, the pandemic is likely to have an enormous impact on our lives deep into 2021, even with a vaccine on the horizon next year, two top UC Davis Health experts said this week on UC Davis LIVE: COVID-19.

Laboratory tests of surgical and N95 masks by researchers at the University of California, Davis, show that they do cut down the amount of aerosolized particles emitted during breathing, talking and coughing. Tests of homemade cloth face coverings, however, show that the fabric itself releases a large amount of fibers into the air, underscoring the importance of washing them. The work is published Sept. 24 in Scientific Reports.

UC Davis Health has been selected as a site for a new clinical trial (OSCAR) to test otilimab as a potential treatment for severe pulmonary COVID-19-related disease.

Otilimab, a human monoclonal antibody, was under investigation as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. Now, the OSCAR clinical trial will evaluate the efficacy and safety of a single infusion of otilimab in treating severe lung inflammation in COVID-19 patients.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, there is an urgent need to determine who is at greatest risk for severe disease, better understand how the disease and treatments evolve, and predict the need for resources. But to get there, researchers and clinicians need more data about what patients have experienced so far, and what factors are associated with different patient outcomes.

Jenna Gadberry ’03 is using her extensive background in chemical and biological defense to answer the question: Could dogs detect COVID-19?

Gadberry, a researcher with the U.S. Army’s Combat Capabilities Development Command Chemical Biological Center, has studied canine detection for military explosives. When the question about COVID-19 arose, her team partnered with the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine Working Dog Center.

wo things are certain about the flu season knocking at our door during the COVID-19 pandemic: First, it’s never been more important to get your flu shot. Next, no one knows how this influenza season will play out.

The uncertainty covers almost every aspect of the flu — how dangerous this year’s strain will be, how contagious it will be, how the flu will interact with COVID-19, and what might happen if a person gets both the flu and COVID-19.

In the first weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care providers and academic medical centers worldwide were scrambling to gather information about treatments for the very novel disease.

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UC Davis and two other universities have been awarded a $2.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to train and empower community health workers in research best practices, which could help reduce disparities related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

In early August, a handful of national media stories reported on a study from Duke University about face masks and COVID-19. The stories appeared to report something new, but they got it wrong. 

Rare research on the effects of a pandemic undertaken during an ongoing disaster shows that COVID-19 has severely affected people’s daily emotional lives and mental health, increasing their stresses the longer lockdowns, fear of getting sick and financial strains continue.

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Patients at UC Davis Health on Thursday (Aug. 20) became the first in Sacramento to receive a vaccine candidate for COVID-19, which is part of a major clinical trial involving 30,000 participants worldwide.

The six people who received the injections are part of a late-stage study that will enroll about 200 participants through UC Davis Health’s clinical trials program.

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Humans are not the only species facing a potential threat from SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, according to a new study from the University of California, Davis.

An international team of scientists used genomic analysis to compare the main cellular receptor for the virus in humans — angiotensin converting enzyme-2, or ACE2 — in 410 different species of vertebrates, including birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals.

The Cypress Building was a blur of activity this week as a clinical trials team prepped and launched its first COVID-19 vaccine study. It’s just one of 14 clinical trials for the disease taking place at UC Davis Health. There are also a number of related activities, all focusing on addressing the challenges of the novel coronavirus.