“The pandemic is over."

It’s a pronouncement we’ve heard several times in the more than 2½ years since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

As California enters fall with the coronavirus very much on the decline, some are once again declaring victory. But health experts say that despite the significant progress, it’s less about turning the page than about understanding that COVID-19 remains quite unpredictable.

Research co-authored by UCLA Fielding School of Public Health faculty and staff illustrates the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on ethnic communities in the United States over the past three years, and the need to improve understanding of how the pandemic rippled through those same groups.

Get your flu shot in 'sweet spot' season before mid-November: Dr. Anne Rimoin

With Americans about to celebrate a third Thanksgiving since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, infectious disease doctors say it may be safe to celebrate with slightly more relaxed rules this year.

“It’s important to just recognize we are in a very different place from two years ago. This population is getting more and more immune,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease physician at the University of California San Francisco.

XHANA THOMPSON SAYS SHE KNEW LITTLE ABOUT PUBLIC HEALTH when one of her professors at Tougaloo College informed her of an opportunity to participate in a new summer program offered by the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health in partnership with Tougaloo, a historically Black liberal arts institution in Jackson, Mississippi.

THE DIRECT CONSEQUENCES OF SARS-COV-2 HAVE BEEN ENORMOUS, with severe illnesses and approximately 1 million deaths in the U.S. among the nation’s more than 80 million reported COVID-19 cases. The danger posed by community spread of the virus resulted in both government- and self-imposed restrictions on people’s activities, particularly early in the pandemic.

FOR DECADES, DR. BILL MCCARTHY HAS CONDUCTED RESEARCH ON LIFESTYLE BEHAVIORS, such as how smoking and eating junk food affect health. This work was frustrating, however, because the health consequences of his research are typically not seen for years.

UCLA Fielding School of Public Health faculty, students, staff, and graduates will attend and present at the 2022 American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting in Boston and online: "APHA 2022 — 150 Years of Creating the Healthiest Nation: Leading the Path Toward Equity"

For a complete list of sessions at the 2022 American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, click here.

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