The popular magazine looks at research efforts in the state focused on finding treatments or a vaccine for COVID-19. In the story, they state there may be no other institution in the world throwing as much brainpower at COVID-19 as The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, where they spoke with Scott Weaver.

President ad interim, Dr. Ben Raimer talks about the $3.35 million grant from the Sealy & Smith Foundation that will support COVID-19 research. During the interview, Raimer covered many subjects, including testing efforts in the county, drug trails at UTMB, and living with a novel illness reflecting back to life during the polio epidemic. “If anyone can find a way to defeat this virus, it’s UTMB’s top-notch researchers,” Raimer said. ABC13 Houston acquired the online interview for a report on their morning news.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many supplies have been hard to find, but UTMB’s Chris Toomes tells the Brazoria County newspaper how UTMB Health has managed to stay on top of demand. This is good news for Beth Reimschissel at UTMB’s Angleton-Danbury Campus. “PPE supply orders are now taking about a day or so to arrive at the hospital, thankfully,” Reimschissel said.

A gift to UTMB from the Sealy & Smith Foundation will be put to good use in the fight against COVID-19 by supporting a collaboration of UTMB scientists to work together concurrently on a broad range of studies to develop promising vaccines and therapies. “We are extremely thankful for the Sealy & Smith Foundation’s generosity,” said Dr. Ben Raimer.

UTMB’s Katrina Lambrecht explains steps taken by the health system to keep patients visiting ambulatory clinics safe from COVID-19. According to Lambrecht, this involves removal of some of the chairs in waiting areas to allow for greater distances between patients, and frequent disinfecting of all surfaces. In addition, expanded clinic hours will allow for patient flow that will not crowd waiting areas.

The use of telemedicine has surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. UTMB’s Dr. Elizabeth Jaramillo discussed her use of telemedicine with The Facts newspaper. “In our clinic, we have been connecting with patients through video and audio only,” said Jaramillo. “UTMB has set up specific sites for face-to-face visits to help minimize patients’ potential exposure to the coronavirus.”

Victor Sierpina provides readers with steps they can take to maintain their body’s natural and robust immune system to fight off a COVID-19 infection or at least minimize its impact.

In their regular column, Megan Berman and Richard Rupp tell readers that 2009’s outbreak of the novel H1N1 flu can teach us much about dealing with COVID-19.

A local story on the Galveston National Laboratory’s historical relationship with the high-containment lab in Wuhan. Through time, the GNL has hosted Chinese scientists for training to work in the high-containment lab. Between 2008 and 2016, the GNL Biocontainment Training Center trained scientists from about 70 countries. According to UTMB’s James Le Duc, there are redundant safety mechanisms built into all biocontainment laboratories to reduce the risks of accidental exposures.

This national feature story focuses on testing efforts in Galveston County, noting that few U.S. counties are testing for the coronavirus as aggressively as Galveston County. According to the story, county residents are being tested at a rate three times the national average. UTMB’s Chris Toomes explains it was a big effort early in the year to acquire supplies needed for testing. “We put two of our own buyers in the lab to work directly with the lab team to scour the planet for supplies,” Toomes said. “We knew everybody at some point was going to want these materials.” The story was published on U.S. News & World Report, The Guardian, Swissinfo, Yahoo! News, MSN News and other media outlets.