SARS-CoV-2

Health & Safety

Coronavirus FAQ: Testing confuses me! When to do it? Is 'negative' always reliable?

5:49pm April 15, 2022

by Melody Schreiber

With COVID case counts falling and rising, testing is critical. But how many days after exposure should I test? And if I have symptoms but test negative, might the test not be accurate?

Rosy, 6, gives COVID tests and vaccines to her stuffed animals. She herself has been exposed to SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, multiple times and never tested positive. What's her secret?

Why hasn't my daughter caught COVID? 2 factors likely protect her — and maybe you too

7:48am April 08, 2022

by Michaeleen Doucleff

My 6-year-old has been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 at least four times and never tested positive. Many people fall into that category. Researchers have theories about why they've been able to ward it off.

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When 2 coronavirus variants meet inside 1 person, a Frankenstein hybrid can be born

4:34pm March 23, 2022

by Michaeleen Doucleff

That's how the so-called "deltacron" variant — a mashup of delta and omicron — came to be. This process of recombining tells us a lot about the possible past and future of SARS-CoV-2.

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Two white-tailed deer forage in Pennsylvania's Wyomissing Parklands. At the end of 2021, researchers swabbed the noses of 93 dead deer from across the state. Nearly 20% tested positive for the coronavirus.

Researcher finds 'stunning' rate of COVID among deer. Here's what it means for humans

8:18pm March 09, 2022

by Ari Daniel

Studies on white-tailed deer in Pennsylvania and Ontario offer evidence that the mammals are a reservoir for the coronavirus. What are the implications for the course of SARS-CoV-2?

A hamster named Marshmallow was dropped off at the New Territories South Animal Management Centre in Hong Kong on Jan. 19 over concerns that pets were spreading the coronavirus to humans. Thousands of small animals were culled after hamsters tested positi

Health & Safety

The hamsters of Hong Kong offer a cautionary COVID tale

8:05pm February 10, 2022

by Melody Schreiber

A new study documents that infected hamsters, imported from the Netherlands, passed the virus on to humans. Previously only minks had been identified as a source of animal-to-human transmission.

This colorized transmission electron micrograph image shows SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19. This specimen was isolated from a patient in the United States. Particles of the virus (yellow) are emerging from the surface of cell

Fact check: The theory that SARS-CoV-2 is becoming milder

4:19pm January 14, 2022

by Michaeleen Doucleff

A look at the data that omicron is less severe. What does that mean for the future of SARS-CoV-2 — and the pandemic?

A registered nurse administers the COVID-19 vaccine at a high school gym in Corona, California. Scientists are trying to determine if vaccines (and boosters) will offer protection against the newly identified omicron variant.

Scientists race to answer the question: Will vaccines protect us against omicron?

5:35pm December 02, 2021

by Michaeleen Doucleff

There's serious concern about the effectiveness of vaccines against the omicron strain. But there's also reason to be hopeful — especially for those who've had a booster.

Conceptual paper illustration of human hands and coronavirus in a lab.

New clues to the biology of long COVID are starting to emerge

7:16pm November 12, 2021

by Rob Stein

Scientists have begun to find abnormalities in the immune systems of some long-COVID patients that might help explain the syndrome, at least in some people. But there is still much more to learn.

A child and a dog run along a beach in Haiti, from where health workers appear to have contracted a new coronavirus. Around the world, in Malaysia, a similar coronavirus has been found — apparently being passed to humans from dogs.

Health & Safety

New coronavirus, likely from dogs, infects people in Malaysia and Haiti

5:08am November 09, 2021

by Michaeleen Doucleff

It could turn out to be the eighth coronavirus known to spread to humans. Some scientists think doctors and researchers should start actively looking for this virus in patients.

COVID's endgame: Scientists have a clue about where SARS-CoV-2 is headed

4:54pm October 29, 2021

by Michaeleen Doucleff

Pandemic predictions have been made — and then things would change. But based on models and studies (including a 1980s test that squirted virus up human noses), researchers have a new endgame thesis.