Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, its effects still pervade our lives. Millions of Americans still wear masks at times, carry hand sanitizer and work from home. We also have a heightened understanding of the role that health care providers, government and public institutions must play during a public health crisis.
At UC Davis, COVID-19 meant a flood of patients to care for, students and staff to protect, and medical research to perform. From the novel coronavirus's early days in February 2020, UC Davis emerged quickly as a leader in pandemic response and never stopped racing against time.
Physicians successfully treated the first patient in the country who contracted COVID-19 without having traveled to Asia. Lab scientists developed their own accurate PCR COVID test in just 19 days. Researchers led clinical trials for lifesaving vaccines and treatments.
The frontline medical staff treated countless COVID-19 patients, and rolled up their sleeves to receive the first wave of COVID vaccines so they could keep providing that needed care. They soldiered on through Delta, Omicron, the Kraken variants and more.
UC Davis and local government partners created a model COVID testing program that conducted nearly 900,000 tests and saved lives. UC Davis physicians created one of the first long COVID clinics in the country to help treat those with lingering symptoms.
These are just a few of the key moments captured in this interactive timeline. It showcases the myriad ways doctors, nurses and other medical staff, researchers, social scientists and countless other dedicated experts from the UC Davis community experienced the pandemic as it unfolded - and the contributions they made as leaders, fighting the virus that disrupted our world.
Scroll the Interactive Timeline
View the COVID-19 response at UC Davis that started five years ago.
