Gretchen Peterson

Why are universities doing things like testing wastewater and pooling spit?

Testing and Contact Tracing

A: Testing samples of wastewater and pooled spit in places with communal living, such as colleges and universities, provide several valuable benefits in detecting COVID-19. TESTING OF ASYMPTOMATIC PEOPLE. When people are living and socializing together in the same building, there is a risk of asymptomatic spread. If you wait until people are symptomatic to Read more…

Dear Pandemic COVID Q&A

Biology/Immunity Data and Metrics Infection and Spread Socializing Staying Safe Videos

Drs. Lindsey Leininger & Malia Jones tackle your COVID questions, including what’s up with curfews, immunity passes, and declining death rates. ➡️ Intro and website info (:00 – 3:59) ➡️ Lightning round (4:00 – 9:39) ➡️ Immunity: personal + herd (9:40 – 17:55) ➡️ Curfews to curb spread? (18:30 – 25:15) ➡️ Cases up, death Read more…

I was paying attention to the US election news this week and didn’t really follow the pandemic news. Now I check the numbers and — whoa! What happened??!?

Families/Kids Mental Health Socializing Travel

Q: Does this mean more lockdowns? To be honest, I’m kinda done. A: Cases are surging, we have rough weeks ahead, and everyone’s collective will to combat the pandemic has eroded. Stay focused on the things you can do in the short term, and stay realistic about this new surge. First, the numbers: If you Read more…

I heard there was a large COVID-19 outbreak at an overnight summer school retreat in WI. What happened?!

Infection and Spread Testing and Contact Tracing

A: Retreat organizers relied primarily on a test-based strategy for preventing individuals with COVID-19 from attending the retreat and didn’t employ other measures to prevent transmission of COVID-19 among attendees. This did not work. Consequently, a single attendee who became ill the day after arriving led to 116 other attendees (76% of attendees) becoming a Read more…

¿Podría proveer alguna actualización sobre la seguridad de viajar en avión en este momento, antes de los días festivos?

Posts en Español Staying Safe Travel

R: ¡Si! Algunos estudios nuevos sugieren que el riesgo de transmisión de COVID-19 en aviones es bajo *cuando se usa la mascarilla constantemente*. Mientras esto es una buena noticia, otros aspectos de viajar todavía presentan la oportunidad de exponerse a SARS-CoV-2 en ruta a su destino, así que siguiendo las precauciones #eSMART durante las celebraciones Read more…

Election Day Is Here!

Staying Safe

It’s Election Day in the US! Thank you to our wonderful Dear Pandemic community for joining us for a weekly series on voting – something near and dear to our Nerdy Girl hearts. To celebrate this important day, we wanted to re-share some of the key topics we’ve covered and remind you to VOTE if Read more…

Querida Pandemia Mirror Facebook Page

Posts en Español Staying Safe

Wondering how to help your Spanish-speaking family, friends, and/or neighbors stay #SMART during these pandemic times? Check out our new eSMART graphic en español! And in case you haven’t seen it, here’s more information about our eSMART graphic in Spanish from our @QueridaPandemia mirror page to share with others. Link to original FB page