Campus Stories and Press Releases

Panel Cuts Through COVID-19 Confusion

UC Davis leaders and researchers gathered virtually May 14 to answer the public’s questions about COVID-19, ranging from the safety of homemade masks to whether children or pets could transmit the virus.

Distinguished Professor Walter Leal brought the panel together for his second COVID-19 Public Awareness Symposium. It featured straight talk from experts about many areas that have been shrouded in confusion and conflicting information.

UC Davis LIVE: Treating COVID-19

In the second edition of UC Davis LIVE: COVID-19, two UC Davis clinicians will talk about and take questions on the new treatments for COVID-19 being tested at UC Davis Health and other hospitals, including the experimental antiviral drug remdesivir — used to treat UC Davis’ first patient of the pandemic in March — and using plasma from people who have recovered from the novel coronavirus to treat patients.

National Science Foundation Grant to Help UC Davis Researchers Track Evolution of Novel Coronavirus

As the disease COVID-19 spreads across the planet, scientists continue to combat the novel coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2) on all fronts. But viruses are fickle, mutating to ensure their survival as they hop hosts. Genomic mutations and natural selection could reduce the effectiveness of a potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus, and different sequence variations and strains of the virus are continuously being reported in databases like GISAID.

Can a drug developed for sickle cell anemia mitigate lung damage in patients with COVID-19?

UC Davis scientists provide senicapoc for clinical trial in Denmark

(SACRAMENTO) — Scientists around the globe are working to identify approved and investigational drugs that can be repurposed to treat COVID-19.

UC Davis Health researchers provided one of those repurposed drugs, senicapoc, to launch a clinical trial at Aarhus University in Denmark. The study will assess whether the drug can mitigate lung damage in patients with COVID-19.

UC Davis Engineers, Clinician Develop Low-Cost, Portable Ventilator

Engineers at the University of California, Davis, are working with clinicians to create a simple, inexpensive ventilator. They have developed a prototype and plan to make plans freely available online. Versions could be in clinical use in about six months.

“This is a critical device to have. It provides the vital functions of a ventilator while being completely portable,” said Andrew Li, assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at UC Davis Health.

California COVID-19 Traffic Report Finds Silver Lining

Crashes and Traffic Are Down by Half, Saving State $40 Million Per Day During Shelter-In-Place

Traffic accidents and crash-related injuries and deaths were reduced by half during the first three weeks of California’s shelter-in-place order, which began March 20. The reductions save the state an estimated $40 million per day — about $1 billion over the time period — according to an updated special report released this week from the Road Ecology Center at the University of California, Davis.