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Health

Collage of Arturo Casadevall holding a test tube
COVID-19
Convalescent plasma: A COVID-19 treatment speeds to clinical trials
Published July 28, 2020
An old-school approach offers a fast, stopgap solution for a modern pandemic
Illustration of meat packers working on an assembly line while a train barrels toward them
Ailing under slaughterhouse rules
Published July 27, 2020
Like health care workers, those on the front lines of U.S. meat production are at high risk during the pandemic. The dangers don't stop at the novel coronavirus.
John Barry
Peering into the pandemic future
Published July 27, 2020
Historian John M. Barry looks to the lessons of the 1918 flu pandemic for lessons on confronting COVID-19
Woman with allergies
Research
Dust mite insights
Published July 23, 2020
By identifying the process in which dust mites cause allergic reactions in some, Johns Hopkins researchers may have opened new avenues to combatting allergies, asthma, and other inflammatory disorders
Richard Riley
Hopkins history
The experiment that proved airborne disease transmission
Published July 22, 2020
Richard Riley's tuberculosis experiments in the 1950s transformed our understanding of how infectious pathogens—now including the coronavirus—move through the air
Johns Hopkins doctors provide drive-through testing for COVID-19
Coronavirus
Johns Hopkins ramps up COVID-19 testing
Published July 20, 2020
A team of about 90 work around the clock in the microbiology lab processing up to 1,500 COVID-19 tests each day, returning results in less than 24 hours
A masked custodian cleans a classroom
Reopening
Experts share strategies for safely reopening schools
Published July 17, 2020
Chief among the recommendations are practicing physical distancing in schools, providing federal funding to support schools, and ensuring community transmission of coronavirus is under control in surrounding areas
A table of hand sewn masks
Q+A
Is coronavirus airborne?
Published July 16, 2020
Engineer Peter DeCarlo discusses evidence of airborne transmission, particle behavior, risks, and why he added his name to an open letter urging WHO to revise their guidance
Flu virus
Seasonal flu
Fast-spreading mutation helps common flu subtype escape human immune response
Published July 15, 2020
Unlike the novel coronavirus, which has been shown to mutate slowly, strains of influenza virus have acquired a mutation that blocks antibodies from binding to a key viral protein, making vaccine development more complex
Image of contact tracers at work
Public health
How contact tracing breaks the chain of COVID-19 transmission
Published July 14, 2020
One COVID-19 patient could lead to thousands of new cases. Contact tracers use calls, texts, and personal persuasion to prevent that from happening.