DEOHS responds to COVID-19

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How our research is contributing to the public health response

 

Experts at the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences are actively engaged in COVID-19 research and service activities to help protect workers and build resilient communities during the global pandemic.

 

Our impact

A hand holding a lit cigarette.

Cadmium exposure and COVID-19

New research finds high levels of cadmium from smoking and certain foods are linked to more severe flu, pneumonia—and potentially, COVID-19

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Three people with face masks on stand in front of a fence with houses in background. Person in middle holds a clipboard and pen, person on right gives a peace sign and is wearing a t-shirt that reads "SERVE LOCAL."

Our most-read stories of 2020

From COVID-19 to wildfire smoke: counting down our top stories from Health & Safety Matters, the DEOHS blog

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Foundry workers operating heavy machinery

Field trips get a pandemic makeover

A UW instructor reinvents his class, combining ingenuity with virtual reality to let his students experience site visits to industrial workplaces

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Person in parking lot loading a bag of rolls into the back of a car filled with boxes and bags of food, including a box of Washington apples.

Going hungry in the pandemic

Many in Washington state don’t have enough to eat, according to DEOHS researchers and partners surveying food access

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Two men in face masks carry a tall ladder standing six feet apart.

Co-creating COVID-19 messages for farmworkers

Funding from the UW Population Health Initiative jump-started efforts by DEOHS and our partners, working side-by-side with farmworkers, to create tailored safety messages

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A man lays his cheek against a water buffalo while holding a harness.

Stopping animal-to-human disease transmission

DEOHS Professor Elaine Faustman will lead risk analysis and communication for new $100 million USAID initiative

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In the news

Five years later, the COVID pandemic is still with us
April 8, 2025 | KUOW | Featured: Peter Rabinowitz View

Q&A: UW-led research identifies migration, housing quality as risk factors in earthquake deaths
February 3, 2025 | UW News | Featured: Karen Chen, Diana Ceballos View

Five years of COVID-19: How the pandemic altered the workforce
January 31, 2025 | The Daily | Featured: Marissa Baker View

Five years of COVID-19: What we have learned about SARS-CoV-2 since the beginning of the pandemic
January 29, 2025 | The Daily | Featured: Gerard A. Cangelosi View