When we asked you to submit questions for three Seattle-area leaders about the COVID-19 pandemic, you responded in droves.
In less than 24 hours, Seattle Times readers submitted more than 400 questions for our video interview Thursday with our three panelists:
Seattle’s Infectious Disease Research Institute has received seven-figure funding to begin human trials on a potentially groundbreaking novel coronavirus treatment.
The study could launch within weeks, take about 11 months to complete, and enroll about 100 patients diagnosed with a COVID-19 infection that’s causing moderate to severe pneumonia. It would deploy cancer-fighting NK-cells as an immunotherapy treatment for the coronavirus rather than the current approach of antiviral medication.
Patricia García, Peru's former Minister of Health and an Affiliate Professor of Global Health at the University of Washington, spoke to Publimetro in her home country of Peru about the country's response to the coronavirus pandemic. García received a Masters of Public Health at UW and is also a professor at the School of Public Health at Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, Peru. Her areas of expertise include epidemiology, infectious diseases, and implementation science.
The following interview has been translated from Spanish.
This message was sent to students on all University of Washington campuses.
Dear Students,
Today we are announcing our path forward for spring quarter 2020. Thank you, again, for your perseverance and goodwill as we navigate difficult, uncertain and rapidly changing times in our country and the world.
Classes and instruction to be offered remotely throughout spring quarter
In parts of Africa, where the HIV rate is 36 percent, researchers tested out a simple idea: They made access to care easier for people living with a chronic condition.
In a nearly three-year study in South Africa and Uganda, researchers used mobile vans in five communities to dispense care and treatment to 1,315 people living with HIV and not on antiretroviral treatment.
The randomized controlled trial, conducted between May 2016 and March 2019, found that viral suppression was 74 percent, compared to 63 percent for those seen in a clinic.
University of Washington Department of Global Health professor Steve Gloyd has been named by the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region as one of 12 commissioners on its Commission on Social Determinants of Health. Gloyd has expanded the UW involvement by inviting DGH students and faculty to help conduct research for the Commission.
The Department of Global Health Funding for Fieldwork application is now available to UW students. The deadline for applications has been extended. Submit applications by Monday, March 30 at 5:00 p.m. PST at the page linked to below.
The Funding for Fieldwork page also includes information on the following fellowships:
As the coronavirus spreads, Seattle and its suburbs have become America’s laboratory and guinea pig.
The response now touches every part of daily life. From restaurant closures to bans on gatherings to the total reorientation in the area's research centers, sweeping changes arrive at a pace unimaginable two weeks ago.
In 2003, Celine Gounder and a student colleague, Carolyn Hettrich, initiated and created global health student programs for first year and fourth year medical students. Celine also worked with medical student Laura Certain to help create the Western Regional International Health Conference and the Global Health Pathway. All of these programs were integrated into the Department of Global Health in 2007 and still exist today.
The idea of building herd immunity – increasing the number of infected to such a degree that naturally occurring immunity would outstrip the coronavirus, while isolating the elderly and others at greatest risk of the disease – has been tossed around in the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. This week, however, U.K. officials appear to be backing away from that approach.