On January 21, 2020, the CDC confirmed the first case of the 2019 novel coronavirus in the United States. Soon after, people across the nation were scrambling for hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes and learning a new set of words like COVID-19, pandemic, quarantine, and isolation.

Iowa’s first three confirmed cases of COVID-19 were announced on March 8, 2020. By mid-March, businesses shuttered, schools moved to virtual instruction, employees were sent home to work remotely, and frontline workers in health care and other essential services performed their jobs while facing unknown risks.

In the College of Public Health, faculty, staff, and students immediately applied their skills and expertise to reduce the spread of the virus, keep people safe, and help inform the public. As the pandemic progressed, so did the college’s research and activities addressing COVID-19.

To mark two years of the pandemic, we invite you to take a look back at some of the many ways people in the College of Public Health have contributed to the fight against COVID-19 through their research, service, and teaching. While this list is not exhaustive, it gives a sense of the breadth and depth of the work that has addressed the pandemic and, in many cases, continues to the present day.

Public health students step it up

Students at the University of Iowa College of Public Health join the fight against COIVD-19 as contact tracers.

Hear their story

State Hygienic Lab leads Iowa’s COVID testing response

Mike Pentella, clinical professor of epidemiology, directs the State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa, the state’s public health and environmental laboratory. Since early 2020, the lab has processed about 1.6 million COVID tests.

Read the story

Tracking COVID in rural areas

Keith Mueller and Fred Ullrich have been tracking COVID-19 case and death rates in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan counties nationwide since the beginning of the pandemic. Their data show that COVID case and death rates are higher in rural counties than in urban counties.

Download the data brief

Student podcasters produce COVID-19 coverage throughout pandemic

Student podcasters behind “From the Front Row” have produced more than 28 COVID-19-themed episodes of the College of Public Health’s student podcast

View the playlist

Highly cited research

George Wehby, professor of health management and policy, led a study examining the effects of mask mandates. The highly cited research estimated that as many as 230,000–450,000 COVID cases were averted by mandating face coverings.

Read the study

Unique UI collaborations helping extend use, decontaminate PPE

Health providers nationwide struggled to overcome a critical shortage of PPE early in the pandemic. Experts like Patrick O’Shaughnessy, professor of occupational and environmental health, played a critical part in evaluating the safety of PPE that had been manufactured from novel components, decontaminated using new technologies, or produced by volunteers.

View Story

Student project promotes outdoor social distancing

Anne Abbott began a collaboration with local parks and recreation departments to produce materials that build awareness of social distancing etiquette while using outdoor public spaces during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meet Anne

NCBH helps native communities cope with pandemic

Anne Helene Skinstad, professor of community and behavioral health, and her team at the Native Center for Behavioral Health develop programs to support the behavioral health workforce in Native American and Alaska Native communities, which have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

See their work

UI promotes vaccine uptake in rural areas

A CDC-funded project aims to increase COVID vaccination rates in Iowa’s smallest communities.

Learn about the project

Faculty and students develop predictive COVID model for Iowa

A team of UI faculty, led by Joseph Cavanaugh, professor and head of biostatistics, worked with the Iowa Department of Public Health to analyze data and develop predictive models to help Iowa respond to the COVID pandemic. The team also developed an interactive tool to model the effects social distancing and PPE could have on the future course of the disease in Iowa.

Learn about the model

Workplace survey reaches 10,000 UI employees

To better assess the impact of the pandemic on employee work arrangements, health, and well-being, Diane Rohlman, professor of occupational and environmental health, and colleagues in the Healthier Workforce Center of the Midwest, conducted a series of surveys that collected data from more than 10,000 University of Iowa employees.

See the results

Will Story studies COVID’s impact on intimate partner violence in India

Prof. Will Story of the Department of Community and Behavioral Health is one of the recipients of $3.3 million from the Fogarty International Center to help low-resource nations respond to the challenge of COVID-19.

See the project

Additional COVID response activities