Coronavirus | Penn Today

COVID-19 long haulers discuss their lengthy recoveries

Benjamin Abramoff of the Perelman School of Medicine comments on how long-haul COVID can affect people and what he’s seeing among patients.

How to judge COVID risks and when to wear a mask

Ethan Craig of the Perelman School of Medicine discusses how immunosuppression medications can factor into personal risk calculations and the differences in potential risk based on the environment a person enters into.

Do you need a second COVID booster? ‘It depends,’ Penn Medicine experts say

John Wherry of the Perelman School of Medicine says that as antibody levels go down to expect more mild infections and more asymptomatic infections now that there is increased testing.

Why it is hard to know who needs a COVID booster: Mysterious T cells

E. John Wherry of the Perelman School of Medicine relays data from his lab showing that, after the initial series of vaccines, T cells remain in the body for at least nine to 12 months.

America created its own booster problems

Jessica Fishman of the Perelman School of Medicine and Annenberg School for Communication is featured in this article about the role messaging has played in exacerbating the booster campaign.

COVID’s ‘silver lining’: Research breakthroughs for cancer, other diseases

E. John Wherry of the Perelman School of Medicine said the discovery of rogue antibodies that disable a key part of the immune system “is a paradigm shift in immunology and in COVID.”

emulsions of oil and water separated by a layer of nanoparticles.

From a pandemic, scientific insights poised to impact more than just COVID-19

Pivoting to study SARS-CoV-2, many scientists on campus have launched new research projects that address the challenges of the pandemic but also prepare us to confront future challenges.

America’s flu-shot problem is also its next COVID-shot problem

Alison Buttenheim of the School of Nursing said that, if the American public is asked to be vaccinated against COVID-19 again in the future, the turnout would likely not exceed that of the typical annual flu vaccine. “I’m guessing that flu-vaccine coverage is going to be a ceiling,” she said. “I just don’t think we’ll have 70 percent of U.S. adults saying, ‘Oh, an annual COVID shot? Sure.’”

A group of older people at a restaurant clinking half-full wine glasses, with their masks pulled down around their chins to reveal a smile. Food is on the table.

New COVID-19 roadmap: Four takeaways

A report spearheaded by PIK Professor Ezekiel Emanuel, with input from other Penn experts, lays out a dozen priorities for the federal government to tackle in the next 12 months. The aim: to help guide the U.S. to the pandemic’s “next normal.”

Health experts warn omicron subvariant could become dominant strain in U.S.

John Wherry of the Perelman School of Medicine said the U.S. should be keeping an eye on BA.2, the subvariant of COVID-19 behind a surge in parts of Europe and Asia. “It’s unlikely that we need national reintroduction of mitigation measures, but we should have local awareness of what’s happening in our communities and how to actually reintroduce masks or other measures,” he said.

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