USC study suggests herd immunity is unlikely; path forward will rely on access to COVID treatments, vaccination and supporting hospital capacity CONTACT: Leigh Hopper at lhopper@usc.edu or 310-308-0405 Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, people hoped that the pandemic would end through ”herd immunity,” a scenario in which most people have antibodies from vaccination or prior infection and the […]

Researchers say Black children have suffered disproportionately from parental bereavement due to the pandemic. CONTACT: Jenesse Miller at jenessem@usc.edu or 213-810-8554 Between 37,000 and 43,000 children in the United States have lost at least one parent to COVID-19, a “staggering” 20% increase in parental loss over a typical year, new USC research shows. The scope of deaths “is […]

Easy-to-use screening tool showed promise in comparison with ‘gold-standard’ PCR test, USC study shows CONTACT: Leigh Hopper at lhopper@usc.edu or (310) 308-0405 Last year, the U.S. government purchased 150 million BinaxNOW rapid antigen COVID-19 tests and began distributing them. One of the goals was to safely reopen schools. However, little data was available on how […]