Description of the second UC Davis COVID-19 Symposium featuring expert speakers and answers to attendee posed questions. UC Davis is a nationally recognized academic medical center.
On the afternoon of May 14 I took advantage of the opportunity to participate in the second UC Davis COVID-19 Symposium via Zoom. Every day we are bombarded with COVID-19 information, some of which is misleading or just plain wrong. My personal motto for determining accuracy is “consider the source”. I trust UC Davis.
The first UC Davis COVID-19 Symposium was held in mid-March. It included UC Davis Professor Walter Leal’s prerecorded interview with Marilyn Stebbins, the first patient diagnosed with COVID-19 in Yolo County. A recording of the symposium can be accessed here on YouTube.
SacramentoRevealed.com – All Things Sacramento (from a personal perspective)
Second UC Davis COVID-19 Symposium
I signed onto the symposium link a few minutes early. An audio test was underway in the form of a performance by Dr. Francis S. Collins (National Institutes of Health Directors). Dr. Collins accompanied himself on the piano while singing a COVID-19 themed song to the tune of “Imagine” by John Lennon. That’s what I call an innovative audio test!
UC Davis Chancellor Gary May made welcoming comments and introduced UC President Janet Napolitano who spoke about both the UC system and the importance of DACA. DACA has been the subject of litigation and Napolitano mentioned that a Supreme Court ruling is expected in the near future.
Professor William Leal then introduced each participating panelist who in turn made comments on various COVID-19 related issues. In the second half of the symposium panelists answered attendee posed questions.
Panelists
- David Lubarsky, Vice Chancellor of Human Health Sciences and Chief Executive Officer, UC Davis Health
- Allison Brashear, Dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine
- Emanuel Maverakis, Professor of Dermatology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Medicine
- Atul Malhotra, Professor of Medicine, UC San Diego Health
- William Leal, UC Davis Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and former Chair of the Department of Entomology
- William Isenberg, Sutter Health Chief Quality and Safety Officer
- Anoop Maheshwari, Pulmonary and Critical Care Specialist
Topics
Over the course of the afternoon some of the presentations were quite technical, but there were numerous nuggets of interesting information. UC Davis is actively involved in a variety of COVID-19 research studies, has developed an in-house COVID-19 test, and is involved in pre-clinical testing to develop a vaccine.
More than one speaker made the point that it is safe to go to the hospital for care, and attendees were encouraged to take care of their health maintenance needs prior to Fall.
Issues discussed included:
- What is known/not yet known about COVID-19
- The various types of treatments currently being studied
- Viral load and survival
- Hand hygiene
- Children/transmission of COVID-19
- Personal protective gear (masks/glasses/shields/gloves)
- Dogs/cats and COVID-19
- False positive/false negative test results
A couple of items of interest about Covid-19:
- Children have been associated with transmission of COVID-19 to adults
- There is no evidence that dogs and cats have transmitted COVID-19 back to people
- We don’t know what the presence of antibodies mean as it relates to immunity/re-infection (testing positive for antibodies is not a “get out of jail” card)
- Properly worn cloth masks made of multiple layers/dense material can capture large droplets (from the wearer) but are not good at filtering air (for the wearer). Cloth masks do not protect against COVID-19, but can reduce the viral load.
- You must test negative two times in a row to be considered COVID-19 free
You can access the second UC Davis COVID-19 Symposium on YouTube here.
See related blog post: COVID-19 & Climate Change v. the Economy
Comments on the first or second UC Davis COVID-19 Symposium?
If you attended either the first or second symposium – what was your take-away?
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