A 19-Day Sprint to Develop a COVID Test
March 2020
UC Davis Health develops its own coronavirus test from scratch in just 19 days. The goal is to identify patients with COVID-19 as quickly as possible so they can be quarantined. The effort is led by the Department of Pathology and Laboratory medicine and involves experts from both campuses.
We felt as though we were in a race against this virus. All the lights are programmed to go off at 2 a.m. We would have to turn them back on and go back to work.
Marcelo Prado, supervisor for the Molecular Pathology Laboratory
UC Davis Researchers Solve Medical Mystery, Publish Groundbreaking Research
March 30, 2020
Doctors and researchers around the world are hungry for information about the new virus, about which little is known. The UC Davis Health team that treated the first community-spread COVID-19 patient publishes a groundbreaking paper in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. They provide detailed information about the patient’s condition and the challenges they experienced before saving her life.
Read about our research on the first patient
Setting COVID-19 Standards at the State and National Levels
April 2020
UC Davis Health experts work with state and national institutions and organizations to set standards for COVID-19 care in areas such as thoracic surgery, ventilator allocation, surgery, patients with developmental disabilities and pregnant people and newborns. They also help set guidelines for resident training, availability of telehealth, testing, critical care and more.
Read how we set medical standards
‘Sick Posts’ on Social Media Help Early Tracking of COVID-19
April 2020
Tracking social media “sick posts” could give public health officials a head start on identifying and responding to emerging disease outbreaks, UC Davis researchers suggest in a new working paper.
Read about our social media COVID-tracking research
UC Davis Publishes Early Research Suggesting COVID Is Airborne
April-September 2020
UC Davis researchers publish an editorial and scientific papers urging a closer look at the role of aerosols in spreading COVID-19, including when people talk. They also publish research about the effectiveness of different types of masks in preventing the spread of the virus.
Read about virus transmission through speech
Read how COVID can spread on dust
Read about the efficacy of different face coverings
Stem Cells, Monoclonal Antibodies and More: Searching for COVID-19 Treatments
January 2021
UC Davis School of Medicine researchers test a dozen treatments for COVID-19, including clinical trials involving stem cells — notably, one that could help patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome, one of the most severe COVID complications. They also study the effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies and antivirals in the race to save lives.
Read how we tested 12 COVID treatments