UCLA In the News lists selected mentions of UCLA in the world’s news media. Some articles may require registration or a subscription to view. See more UCLA In the News.

What coronavirus testing for a very sick patient looks like | Los Angeles Times

For Omai Garner, who directs clinical microbiology testing for UCLA Health, laboratories like his are central for ending this pandemic. Their protocol, initially developed in the 1980s, has been on the front line of viral diagnostic testing for almost two decades. Of the viruses that Garner has encountered, the coronavirus is one of the most sinister, a Trojan horse disguising itself in symptoms of the flu.

Trump administration weakens auto emissions standards | National Public Radio

“More fuel efficient cars are cheaper for consumers over the long run,” says Ann Carlson, an environmental law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Why it’s more important than ever to be kind | Washington Post

Humans are a social species, said Naomi Eisenberger, a neuroscientist at the University of California at Los Angeles. Our brains and bodies have evolved to count on the closeness of others. Surrounded by family and friends, we feel safe from predators and secure that we will be cared for if we’re hurt.

As cases surge, medical students rushed into practice | ABC News

In hard-hit southern California, at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Dr. Clarence Braddock, the vice dean for education at the David Geffen School of Medicine, told ABC News Monday UCLA would offer early graduation to its medical students if they have met the requirements and are matched to a residency program that wants to start and hire them early. “We’re going to need them,” Braddock said in an interview with ABC News last week. “Maybe some places sooner than others, but we’re definitely going to need them.”

Can you put a price on COVID-19 options? | Science

Andrew Atkeson, an economist at the University of California, Los Angeles, agrees that the economics point strongly toward strict measures. If the epidemic is allowed to grow unhindered, he predicts the economy will grind to a halt anyway as people see an explosion of infections and stop going out. “Either you shut off the economy now and have people staying at home, or you let this thing rip and you have people staying at home scared,” he says.

California poised to sue Trump again over clean car rollback | CALmatters

Julia Stein, supervising attorney at UCLA’s Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic, doesn’t predict a speedy end to the fight over the clean car rules. She said that it’s entirely possible it will end up at the Supreme Court. ”It’s unlikely that these challenges will resolve this year, to say the least,” she said. “I think we will see the litigation on this rule continuing into the next presidency, whoever that may be.” 

White House models for death toll drive home social distancing | Daily Beast

But Dr. Jeffrey Klausner, an adjunct professor of epidemiology at the University of California Los Angeles who previously worked for the CDC, cautioned against panicking at the various models being cited, even by the White House. “To say that 100,000 will die, that means 150 times that — you’d have to reach a level of 15 million infected — which would mean we’d have to see transmission patterns like influenza,” Klausner told The Daily Beast, citing a new estimated mortality rate of 0.66 percent, which was reported on Tuesday. 

Thousands of L.A. high schoolers marked absent during pandemic | KCRW-FM

“They are probably students who are experiencing extreme poverty, or poverty to varying degrees, because they may not have access to internet. We would imagine that some of those students may be youth are experiencing homelessness, and we might assume that some of those students might not have a family structure that would allow them to access the content they need to,” said UCLA’s Tyrone Howard.

The latest coronavirus developments | MSNBC’s “The 11th Hour with Brian Williams”

“Right now, we have no idea where we sit on this curve, because of the failure to get testing out, widespread, to the vast majority of the country. Testing is still difficult for people who are sick to get,” said UCLA’s Dr. Anne Rimoin (approx. 5:30 mark).

Governor: California bought time to prepare for virus peak | Associated Press

Dr. David Eisenman, director of the Center of Public Health and Disasters at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that while there isn’t enough information to show the curve is flattening, there are positive signs. “There are many of us who see early indicators that make us cautiously optimistic,” Eisenman said. “But we could be wrong. At least these early indicators are not going the opposite way.”

Good communication will help beat COVID-19 | The Hill Opinion

(Commentary written by UCLA’s Dr. Jonathan Fielding) I find there’s a disconnect between communications based on good intentions and those based on good science. What’s proven elusive at several levels of government is a mechanism to marshal facts, vet differing viewpoints, decide who should answer difficult questions, and — most importantly — ensure that all recommendations and directives are based on sound science.

Air pollution makes the coronavirus more dangerous | HuffPost

As the SARS virus tore through China in 2003, Zuo-Feng Zhang wondered whether the country’s notoriously polluted air might be amplifying its dangers. The answer he and his scientific colleagues found feels frighteningly relevant now, not just for China, but all across a world where SARS’ coronavirus cousin is bearing down on billions of people who already live with unhealthy air…. “We found a very strong correlation between air pollution and deaths” from the virus, said Zhang, an epidemiologist at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public Health.

Dirty air could increase the risk for dementia | HealthDay News

That line of thinking made sense to Dr. Jesus Araujo, director of environmental cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He said the kind of vascular damage brought on by heart disease may be an essential pre-requisite for dementia. Araujo added that extensive evidence indicates that air pollution can trigger inflammation and hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), while also throwing the immune system out of whack (oxidative stress).