The Coronavirus Update

All from this series

  • In the trenches

    Physicians caring for different populations in three hospitals describe life in the midst of a pandemic.

    Three Harvard alums.
  • A silent epidemic

    Early data from peer-reviewed studies suggest that one-third of hospitalized COVID-19 patients of all ages, and two-thirds of those with severe disease, show signs of delirium.

    Caregiver holding elderly patients hand at home.
  • Mental health in Africa amid pandemic

    As cases of coronavirus surge in Africa, the challenges experienced elsewhere are compounded by social factors and a shortage of caregivers.

    Mask on the ground.
  • A five-layered defense for workplace reopening

    Joseph Allen laid out how existing building safety guidelines might be adapted to make workplaces safer in the age of COVID.

    Empty office.
  • From taking notes in the classroom to helping the front lines

    Students in Mark Fagan’s supply chain management course spent the spring semester using their skills to help the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis.

    Mark Fagan.
  • Dancing with myself

    Virtual workout classes help the community stay connected and healthy while social distancing.

    Online Zumba class with Sandra Kim.
  • Why the Arboretum remains open

    Director William “Ned” Friedman explains the rationale for keeping the Arboretum open during the pandemic.

    William "Ned" Friedman.
  • Extracurriculars for an online campus

    Socialize Remotely allows students, faculty, and staff to continue attending a range of extracurricular activities, and to connect.

    Woman doing yoga in front of laptop.
  • If Harvard were to reopen today, who should be allowed to return?

    Harvard Professor Michael Sandel led a campuswide audience in a Zoom event, “Harvard Live: Pandemic Ethics.”

    Michael Sandel.
  • Feeling more anxious and stressed? You’re not alone

    Uncertainty, unemployment, and ill health are combining to feed a rise in concern about America’s mental health as people shelter from the coronavirus and each other, a Harvard Chan School psychiatric epidemiologist said Thursday.

    Lonely person in apartment window.
  • Insomnia in a pandemic

    The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health hosted an online forum on “Coronavirus, social distancing, and acute insomnia: How to avoid chronic sleep problems before they get started.”

    Man in bed suffering insomnia.
  • COVID-19 may not go away in warmer weather as do colds

    Harvard researchers are turning to two common cold viruses to learn lessons about how the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 might behave in the coming months.

    Illustration of a person stuck in the house.
  • COVID-19 targets communities of color

    Harvard scholars discuss health care disparities in the age of coronavirus.

    Ambulance.
  • Dispatches from socially distancing students and faculty

    Harvard students and faculty offer glimpses into their lives during social distancing.

    Nina Gheihman
  • Coronavirus and the heart

    Heart damage has recently emerged as yet another grim outcome in the virus’s repertoire of possible complications.

    heart model.
  • Global race to a COVID-19 vaccine

    Team at Harvard plans to launch a clinical trial for a potential COVID-19 vaccine in the fall.

    Ofer Levy an David Dowling.
  • Community contact tracing

    An initiative to accelerate the Massachusetts’ efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 by dramatically scaling up the state’s capacity for contact tracing is being done through a new collaboration with Partners In Health in which Harvard Medical School faculty will play key leadership roles.

    Coronavirus pandemic reported on the map of Massachusetts.
  • Obama: In trying times, truth first

    During a virtual seminar Thursday, more than 750 officials from 400 U.S. cities got advice from top executives who led the nation’s last public health crisis, the Ebola epidemic, on how to help their cities cope and prepare for reopening in the coming weeks or months.

    Barack Obama
  • Time to fix American education with race-for-space resolve

    Q&A with Harvard’s Paul Reville about the impact of the coronavirus on education.

    Empty classroom.
  • By phone and online, the care continues

    A Q&A with Harvard University Health Services’ Executive Director Giang Nguyen about the steps taken to move as much care online as it could as the novel coronavirus approached. He also outlines new resources available to the Harvard community.

    Giang Nguyen.
  • Assessing the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on correctional institutions

    Working in real time, Harvard researchers are surveying correctional facilities to find out how U.S. prisons and jails are being affected by the pandemic.

    Barbed wire.
  • SEAS moves opening of Science and Engineering Complex to spring semester ’21

    Temporary suspension of construction work by the city of Boston has pushed back the planned fall opening of Harvard’s Science and Engineering Complex in Allston until next spring semester.

    Harvard’s new Science and Engineering Complex in Allston.
  • Relearning ways to grieve

    With everything from hugs to funerals now forbidden or unrecognizable, a Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health online forum focused on “How the Discomfort of Grief Can Help Us: Recognizing and Adapting to Loss During the COVID-19 Outbreak.”

    Candles
  • Hope for managing hospital admissions of COVID-19 cases

    A top emergency-preparedness official with Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital says recent modeling shows social distancing is working to flatten the curve.

    People walking 12 feet apart.
  • Innovating to train medical pros on using mechanical ventilators

    Harvard and EdX, the virtual learning platform founded by Harvard and MIT, announced the launch of a free online course designed to train frontline medical professionals to operate the mechanical ventilators needed to treat COVID-19 patients.

    Mechanical ventilator
  • ‘Faster protection with less material’

    Further research and development on a class of molecules called bisphosphonates might turbocharge a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, and help bring immunity to huge populations more quickly.

    Professor Uli von Andrian.
  • ‘The world changed, so we changed with it’

    While the majority of the Wyss Institute is working remotely, a small but dedicated team is still coming into the lab to help treat and cure COVID-19.

    Woman working in lab.
  • Turning Harvard virtual

    A look at how Harvard University Information Technology helped the University, including the College and 12 graduate Schools, move all classes online.

    Multiple monitors.
  • How masks and buildings can be barriers to the coronavirus

    According to Harvard’s Joe Allen, coronavirus is likely being transmitted in buildings through ventilation systems. But there are ways to minimize risks.

    Joe Allen.
  • The way we live now

    One Harvard student describes what life is like on a deserted campus while another shares his experience going home and the adjustments the followed.

    Student walking with Remy the cat.