“We Thought It Was Just a Respiratory Virus,” by Ariel Bleicher and Katherine Conrad, is a feature story in UCSF Magazine's Summer 2020 issue, which is exclusively devoted to UCSF's sweeping response to COVID-19.
In late January, when hospitals in the United States confirmed the presence of the novel coronavirus, health workers knew to watch for precisely three symptoms: fever, cough, and shortness of breath. But by June, clinicians were confronting a dizzying array of frightening symptoms. This is the story of what UCSF scientists are learning about a virus unlike any known before. It is a clear, comprehensive, and gripping account of how the virus can infect our cells, damage our lungs, invade our hearts, and cause disturbing things to happen to our toes, our guts, even our brains. It’s also a story about how UCSF researchers are racing to better understand this wily foe so they can thwart its destructive march.
From the Judges
We liked this because it was a story that we wouldn't normally tell at this stage, i.e. presenting research without findings, but in doing so the writer put their university in the spotlight as an authoritative leader in this field. It was an accessible piece that gathered fantastic results. Even reading it after our understanding of COVID has moved on, we still learned things.
