Each December, we have a look again on the 12 months’s hottest science and well being tales, normally a colourful mixture of cutting-edge analysis, life-changing cures, and science for wholesome residing. However 2020 was a 12 months not like every other, and it’s no shock that COVID-19 tales dominated our headlines and a spotlight.
From our early tales on the unfold of the mysterious new virus, to updates on testing, therapies, and face masks, to our newest look-ahead on vaccines simply across the nook, they mirror the UC San Francisco neighborhood’s onerous work and dedication all year long.
We current these tales within the order they occurred – a chronicle of this extraordinary 12 months.
January – March
Nevan Krogan (heart), PhD, talks with the QBI COVID-19 crew. Picture by Susan Merrell
In late January, an infectious illness knowledgeable instructed us that the mysterious new virus spreading in China was “undoubtedly one thing to fret about.”
By February, the illness brought on by the brand new coronavirus had a reputation – COVID-19 – and we had been starting to grasp how it spreads and progresses, and why one test may not be enough. Hospitals ready for rising instances and folks had been suggested to clean their palms and to call their doctor if they felt sick.
On March 11, the World Well being Group declared COVID-19 a pandemic and Bay Space counties rolled out stay-at-home orders. Epidemiologists, foreseeing an overburdened well being care system, urged everybody to observe social distancing to flatten the curve, together with young people without symptoms, who can nonetheless transmit the virus.
Within the lab, researchers started mapping how the coronavirus hijacks human cells, and a psychologist provided recommendations on how to cope with COVID-19 anxiety.
Most Fashionable
• As Mysterious Coronavirus Spreads, An Infectious Illness Professional Explains What You Ought to Know | Read
• How the New Coronavirus Spreads and Progresses – And Why One Take a look at Could Not Be Sufficient | Read
• As Coronavirus Spreads, Consultants Clarify When to Name a Physician, How Testing Works and Extra | Read
• Why Consultants Are Urging Social Distancing to Fight Coronavirus Outbreak | Read
• Coronavirus Is Sickening Younger Adults and Spreading By way of Them, Consultants Say | Read
• Unveiling How Coronavirus Hijacks Our Cells to Assist Rush New Medicine to Sufferers | Read
• Feeling Anxiousness About Coronavirus? A Psychologist Presents Tricks to Keep Clearheaded | Read
April – June
On April 3, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention formally really useful that folks begin sporting face coverings in public, so we requested an emergency care physician to point out us how to properly don different face masks.
As instances of COVID-19 skyrocketed in epicenters like New York Metropolis, there was new curiosity in checks that would establish individuals who could have gained immunity to the virus after an infection. However our specialists had been cautious in regards to the promise and uncertainties of antibody testing for COVID-19 and located excessive false constructive charges when evaluating some of the new antibody test kits available on the market.
Different researchers centered on COVID-19 threat amongst completely different populations, finding out how COVID-19 could affect pregnancy or confirming the link between smoking and more severe COVID-19.
Amid a lot unhealthy information, glimmers of hope emerged in Could with modestly encouraging outcomes from early trials of the antiviral drug Remdesivir, regardless that the drug was not but FDA-approved and onerous to come back by.
By June, 5 months into the pandemic, it turned clear that some 45 p.c of individuals with COVID-19 had been asymptomatic however nonetheless infectious. But confusion over masks continued, so we requested our specialists to interrupt down the science behind how face masks prevent COVID-19 – which turned our most learn story of the 12 months.
Most Fashionable
• Emergency Care Physician Explains When to Put on a Face Masks, How you can Do It the Proper Method | Read
• The Promise and Uncertainties of Antibody Testing for Coronavirus | Read
• What We Know and Don’t Know About Coronavirus and Being pregnant | Read
• Smoking Almost Doubles the Price of COVID-19 Development | Read
• Antiviral Drug Remdesivir Can Assist Struggle the Coronavirus, However Can Sufferers Get It? | Read
• Nonetheless Confused About Masks? Right here’s the Science Behind How Face Masks Stop Coronavirus | Read
July – September
As summer time arrived, the extra we discovered about COVID-19’s results on the physique, the extra we realized that it’s not just a respiratory virus. The virus can assault not solely the lungs, but additionally the center, intestine, and mind, and trigger unusual signs like lack of scent or “COVID toes.”
In the meantime, researchers had been engineering a llama-inspired inhalable antiviral, called Aeronabs, that they hoped would supply short-term safety in opposition to COVID-19 an infection.
However with vaccines nonetheless elusive, an infectious illness knowledgeable defined that face masks had been nonetheless our greatest safety and that masks not only protect others but also the wearer.
By September, docs anxious about an impending “twindemic” within the fall and winter urged folks to get a flu shot this year, and warned that you simply can’t always tell the flu and COVID-19 apart.
Most Fashionable
• We Thought It Was Only a Respiratory Virus. We Have been Incorrect. | Read
• ‘AeroNabs’ Promise Highly effective, Inhalable Safety Towards COVID-19 | Read
• One Extra Cause to Put on a Masks: You’ll Get Much less Sick From COVID-19 | Read
• Why COVID-19 Means You Want a Flu Shot This Yr | Read
• Can You Inform If It’s the Flu or COVID-19? Docs Say It’s Not So Clear | Read
October – December
Mission residents are swabbed at a pop-up COVID-19 check web site on the twenty fourth Road BART Station. Picture by Mike Kai Chen
By fall, months-long research on the coronavirus had been yielding outcomes. In October, the primary report from a long-term examine of being pregnant and COVID-19 discovered that a quarter of pregnant women had prolonged symptoms. An initiative that offered free COVID-19 testing within the Mission district of San Francisco confirmed that rapid tests could identify the most infectious individuals.
And UCSF’s experience in COVID-19 was acknowledged on the nationwide stage. In November, after a tumultuous election season, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris appointed three UCSF faculty to their coronavirus advisory board.
At 12 months’s finish, 11 months into the pandemic, the nation confronted each a grim winter and hope on the horizon. Consultants provided recommendation on minimizing risk during the holiday season as a harmful third wave of infections arrived. And, with a number of vaccines nearing approval, our specialists defined how we’ll know when a COVID-19 vaccine is safe.
Most Fashionable
• COVID-19 Has a Extended Impact for Many Throughout Being pregnant | Read
• Fast COVID-19 Take a look at Exhibits Promise in Neighborhood Take a look at Setting | Read
• 3 UCSF School Named to Biden-Harris Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board | Read
• Vacation Gatherings Throughout COVID-19: What Docs Say About Touring and Household Occasions | Read
• How Can We Be Positive the New COVID-19 Vaccines Are Protected? | Read
Non-COVID-19 Tales that Caught Your Consideration
Whereas the novel coronavirus dominated the information in 2020, tales about keto diets, nicotine in e-cigarettes, and a protein that confers the cognitive advantages of train nonetheless engaged our readers.
Most Fashionable NON-COVID-19 Tales
• JUUL Delivers Considerably Extra Nicotine than Earlier Era E-Cigs and Cigarettes | Read
• 5 Years After Abortion, Almost All Ladies Say It Was the Proper Resolution, Examine Finds | Read
• Ketogenic Diets Alter Intestine Microbiome in People, Mice | Read
• Mind Advantages of Train Can Be Gained with a Single Protein | Read
• Drug Reverses Age-Associated Psychological Decline Inside Days | Read
