Leading the charge against COVID-19

Social media messaging was effective in mitigating COVID-19, researchers say

aquigley@illinois.edu (Alex Quigley) — Wed, 12 Apr 2023 11:30:00 CDT

Researchers discovered that employing social media posts as a means of visual nudging to encourage safe behaviors significantly impacts COVID-19 positivity rates. This effect remains evident even after accounting for various organizational characteristics and disease dynamics at multiple levels.

Discovery Partners Institute receives $2.36M disease-control contract from CDPH

aquigley@illinois.edu (Alex Quigley) — Tue, 21 Feb 2023 10:30:00 CST

The Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) is expanding its wastewater surveillance in Chicago beyond the virus that causes COVID-19 under a Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) agreement that extends their disease-control efforts into mid-2024. The DPI-led scientific team is now also analyzing wastewater for evidence of influenza A and B. The new agreement permits this search to grow to include other pathogens, such as the polio or monkeypox viruses, should they emerge as public health concerns.

UIUC researchers look to duck antibodies to help fight next pandemic

aquigley@illinois.edu (Alex Quigley) — Mon, 13 Feb 2023 11:00:00 CST

Could an analysis of ducks’ antibodies help engineer new therapeutics for humans, and potentially develop tools to fight the next pandemic? A team including many UIUC scientists has been tasked with finding out.

DPI & IDPH launch online COVID-19 tracker

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 13:30:00 CST

The Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced today a new website that tracks the levels of COVID-19 in wastewater samples in Chicago and other cities across Illinois.

Second year of pandemic deadlier for middle aged than the first

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 14:00:00 CST

The first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic saw an increase in mortality rates, both from COVID-19 and other causes, but the groups hardest hit shifted between the first and second years, according to an analysis of publicly available data.

Student-run contract tracing effective in curbing COVID-19 transmission

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 13:00:00 CST

The UIC COVID-19 Contact Tracing and Epidemiology Program helped reduce COVID-19 exposures and infections on campus during the 2020-21 academic year, according to results published in the American Journal of Infection Control.

Study: COVID-19 policies harmed minority women's perinatal experiences, magnified inequities

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 08:30:00 CST

Black, Indigenous and other women of color who were pregnant or gave birth during the pandemic said these experiences were overshadowed by isolation, confusion and fear, much of it caused by unclear or frequently changing institutional policies, according to a new UIUC study.

COVID-19 research on wastewater systems to track pandemics

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 12:45:00 CDT

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced $1,000,000 in research grant funding to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign to improve wastewater monitoring to rapidly detect the emergence and spread of infectious disease in the current COVID-19 pandemic, and to detect other pathogens that could cause future pandemics.

Media faculty to study public attitudes of COVID-19 testing

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 12:30:00 CDT

Three UIUC College of Media faculty have received a $25,000 research grant from SHIELD Illinois for a project that will examine public attitudes, news framing, and online engagement about SHIELD COVID-19 testing.

IDPH, DPI, Shield T3 to expand wastewater monitoring to schools

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 15:45:00 CDT

The state of Illinois announced it is launching an innovative pilot program to protect school children from COVID-19 and reduce its spread through classrooms by analyzing school wastewater for the coronavirus, an expansion of the partnership between IDPH, the Discovery Partners Institute and Shield T3.

DNA nets capture COVID-19 virus in low-cost rapid-testing platform

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 15:45:00 CDT

Tiny nets woven from DNA strands can ensnare the spike protein of the virus that causes COVID-19, lighting up the virus for a fast-yet-sensitive diagnostic test – and also impeding the virus from infecting cells, opening a new possible route to antiviral treatment, according to a new study.

Boosters plus interventions could cut deaths

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 15:45:00 CDT

Combining the widespread use of booster shots with a couple of protective measures more commonly used earlier in the pandemic could help reduce COVID-19 deaths in upcoming months, new research from UIUC suggests.

Shield T3 launches a vending machine for COVID-19 tests

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 10:15:00 CDT

Shield T3, a spin out of the U of I System’s Discovery Partners Institute, is now providing vending machines stocked with more than 300 of its saliva-based, PCR tests for COVID-19.

Who should get an omicron COVID-19 booster?

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 10:15:00 CDT

Although the omicron variants seem less deadly, COVID-19 vaccine boosters are needed to keep up with the virus as it evolves, says UIUC microbiology professor Christopher Brooke.

Developing antivirals for pandemic-level viruses

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 10:00:00 CDT

Researchers at UIC are working with the National Institutes of Health and researchers from across the country to establish a center for antiviral drug development for pandemic-level viruses, including Ebola and SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

Food-buying behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Thu, 11 Aug 2022 10:00:00 CDT

A new study examines how Americans acquired food at various points during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how those activities changed over time as case numbers fluctuated and vaccines became available.

In survey, COVID-19 vaccine recipients report changes in menstrual bleeding

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Fri, 22 Jul 2022 09:45:00 CDT

In a survey of more than 35,000 people, UIUC anthropology professor Kathryn Clancy and her colleagues collected evidence that many individuals experience menstrual changes after COVID-19 vaccination.

Study examines pandemic’s impact on volunteer health care workers

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Fri, 15 Jul 2022 10:45:00 CDT

Compassion satisfaction – the gratification associated with helping others – protected volunteer health care workers against stress-related symptoms and burnout during the early days of the pandemic, according to a new UIUC study.

COVID-19 virus spike protein flexibility improved by human cell's own modifications

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Fri, 15 Jul 2022 10:45:00 CDT

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researchers created atomic-level models of the spike protein that plays a key role in COVID-19 infection and immunity, revealing how the protein bends and moves as it seeks to engage receptors.

Study examined COVID-19 policies' effects on people with disabilities

lmabry@illinois.edu (Laura Mabry) — Tue, 28 Jun 2022 10:45:00 CDT

The gym closures, social distancing mandates and other COVID-19 mitigation policies in the U.S. negatively affected the mental health and well-being of some people with disabilities by significantly curtailing their ability to remain active, researchers found.

In a survey of more than 950 people with diverse types of disabilities, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign identified four groups of people – heavily impacted, resilient, adapted and radically changed – who were differently affected by the pandemic.

IDPH to offer free covidSHIELD tests for public schools for 2022-23 school year

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 14:00:00 CDT

The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced a renewed agreement with SHIELD Illinois that offers every public school outside of Chicago the opportunity to use the University of Illinois System’s innovative, saliva-based COVID-19 testing platform at no cost for the 2022-23 school year.

SHIELD program a model for effective pandemic management, data show

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 09:00:00 CDT

A new paper in the journal Nature Communications details the innovations in modeling, saliva testing and results reporting of the SHIELD program that helped mitigate the spread of the virus at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the surrounding community.

SHIELD has been deployed in schools and communities across the state through the U of I System's SHIELD Illinois unit, and around the world through the university-related organization Shield T3.

New tool providing solid clues to COVID-19's resurgence

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 08:00:00 CDT

University of Illinois at Chicago associate professor Rachel Poretsky is doing sewage surveillance through the University of Illinois’ Discovery Partners Institute. Poretsky is co-leading a team with computer scientist Charlie Catlett that’s using Chicago wastewater to identify viral hot spots.

SHIELD Illinois opens two free COVID testing sites in Chicago

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Thu, 19 May 2022 16:00:00 CDT

SHIELD Illinois opened two additional free community testing sites in Chicago this month, bringing its total number of locations statewide to 44. The newly opened community sites increase access to COVID testing in underserved communities.

Health experts caution against ‘new normal’ strategies for COVID-19

gyordy@illinois.edu (Gretchen Yordy) — Thu, 19 May 2022 15:45:00 CDT

Jun Ma, of the University of Illinois Chicago, said that together, the COVID-19 pandemic and the chronic disease crisis create what is called a synergistic endemic, or syndemic — overlapping epidemics that interact, increasing the burden of disease and the likelihood of poor outcomes.