On Feb. 22, UC San Diego brought together a panel of industry experts and esteemed faculty for a unique and thought-provoking event, “The Fear Factor: Examining Mistrust and Vaccines.” Over 1,200 campus and community members registered to participate in the interactive webinar.
Nearly one year ago, on March 13, 2020, San Diego County issued a two-week stay-at-home order to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The gravity of the situation was growing quickly. Within nine months, the first vaccines were offered, an incredibly quick timeline for vaccine development.
In November 2020, a new variant of COVID-19 was identified in the United Kingdom (B1.1.7). In December 2020, it was announced another variant had been uncovered in South Africa (B1.351). Yet another emerged in January in Brazil, known as P.1. A virus can mutate when it copies itself as it spreads.
In November 2020, Lucira Health received emergency use authorization for the first rapid at-home COVID-19 testfrom the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Erik Engelson, a UC San Diego bioengineering and microbiology alumnus, is president and CEO of Lucira Health, which was founded by a UC Berkeley bioengineering alumni.
In September 2020, UC San Diego students and employees became the first participants of the CA Notify smartphone tool, which works behind-the-scenes to automate exposure notification among people who have been in close proximity of each other, augmenting traditional contact tracing.
Despite the spikes of COVID-19 cases in California, UC San Diego has successfully curtailed outbreaks through a combination of strategic public health interventions driven by the university’s Return to Learn program.
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