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Coronavirus

COVID-19

In Focus

As a deadly new virus spread across the globe, the Harvard community quickly became a hub for researchers, hospitals, and institutes to share their resources and findings.

Assessing the Delta variant

The coronavirus is ultimately not over, says Chan School's William Hanage.

Read the story

The latest information on Harvard University’s on-campus COVID-19 plans

Go to our campus coronavirus page

What we’ve learned

How COVID-19 causes loss of smell

Olfactory support cells, not neurons, are vulnerable to novel coronavirus infection.
Read the Medical School article

Vaccine reassurance

The current COVID-19 vaccines are safe for those with allergies.
Read the Medical School article

Why some die, some survive when equally ill from COVID-19

Researchers have identified a protein signature that may help answer the question, “Why do some patients die from COVID-19, while others—who appear to be just as ill—survive.
Read more on The Harvard Gazette

COVID-19 and blood clots

Elevated levels of a blood clotting factor linked to worse outcomes in severe COVID-19.
Read the Harvard Medical School article

Vaccinated mothers pass antibodies to newborns

Pregnant women show robust immune response to COVID vaccines, pass antibodies to newborns.
Read more on The Harvard Gazette

COVID-19 and neurological symptoms

A small study shows that COVID-19 patients with neurological symptoms show some of the same metabolic disturbances in the brain as patients who have suffered oxygen deprivation from other causes.
Read the Harvard Gazette article

How SARS-CoV-2 evades immune system defenses

A Harvard Medical School study shows how SARS-CoV-2 mutations allow the virus to evade the defenses of patients with compromised immune systems.
Read the Harvard Gazette article

Single-dose COVID-19 vaccine effective against variants, study says

The COVID-19 vaccine that requires just one shot has been shown to generate a robust immune responses against variants.
Read more on The Harvard Gazette
A researcher putting test tubes into a fridge

MassCPR

A crucial aspect of Harvard’s COVID response was the creation of the Massachusetts Consortium on Pathogen Readiness. MassCPR includes scientists from Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Tufts University, the University of Massachusetts, and local hospitals, all united to fight COVID-19 and prepare for future epidemics.

Learn about MassCPR’s response

  • 38

    Institutions receive MassCPR research funding.

  • 557

    Scientists involved in MassCPR.

  • 4,000+

    COVID-19 patient specimens provided to investigators.

  • 1

    Current Harvard president gave blood to MassCPR.

  • 300

    Milligrams of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein produced and shared with scientists.

  • 265

    Hours in Zoom meetings.

Heard immunity

Harvard students talk about family life during the pandemic

Even though there was chaos breaking out everywhere it was just kind of like very peaceful.”

Elijah Suh

After the pandemic forced Harvard to close campus, Elijah had flown to California to be with his mother as she underwent and recovered from a double mastectomy.

Read more about Elijah’s journey through the pandemic
Elijah Suh
[M]y relationships changed with friends because I realized that we didn’t really hold the same values or have the same awareness of what was going on"

Anastasia Onyango

When the pandemic forced Anastasia Onyango to leave Harvard she scrambled to pack up her dorm room and move home. The process was “disorienting,” she recalled.

Read more about Anastasia’s journey through the pandemic
Anastasia Onyango
“Bonding at the table … hearing my dad complain about how he’s bored of ‘Seinfeld’ now, I think that it really added a great routine to our lives."

Phiroze Parasnis

In March 2020, while health and government officials in India scrambled to contain the deadly spread of COVID-19, Phiroze Parasnis and his family watched Mumbai, one of the world’s most populous cities, fall silent.

Read more about Phiroze’s journey through the pandemic
Phiroze Parasnis

Guides and classes

mRNA vaccines explained

Face protection explained

Loneliness explained

Frequently asked questions

Find answers to the COVID-19 questions all of us are asking. Harvard Health Publishing will be adding new questions and updating answers as reliable information becomes available.
Read the Harvard Health article

Managing through crisis

How to protect your company, adjust your operations, and lead your employees through an uncertain period.
Read the Business School article

Origins of disease

How exactly does SARS-CoV-2 cause disease?
View Article

Understanding clinical trials

The Mass General Research Institute is providing a guide that includes key factors to consider when evaluating the results of a new clinical trial.
Read the Mass General article

Toolkit for explaining COVID-19 testing

Harvard Global Health Institute, Brown University School of Public Health, and The Rockefeller Foundation launched an evidence-based, free toolkit about the importance of COVID-19 testing.
Explore the Global Health Initiative toolkit

Resources for public leaders and policymakers

Harvard Kennedy School experts share their solutions and thought leadership on problems ranging from government responsiveness to health to the economy to human rights and more.
Explore the Kennedy School's resources

Insights into the COVID-19 pandemic

Find the most up-to-date information about the pandemic from Medical School experts.
Explore the Medical School articles

Free online courses

Harvard offers a number of free online courses that can help you better understand COVID-19.

Explore all our free online courses

Free Course
Tackling a Perfect Storm

COVID-19’s Economic Impacts and Crafting an Effective Policy Response

Available now
Free Course
Lessons from Ebola: Preventing the Next Pandemic

Understanding the context for the Ebola outbreak: What went right, what went wrong, and how we can all do better

Available now
Free Course
Mechanical Ventilation for COVID-19

This course will provide licensed medical professionals with an understanding of mechanical ventilation so they can assist with the operation of mechanical ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic

Available now

More News & Research

How COVID is pushing tech to revamp sports

Tech has had an impact on sports for years, but the pandemic outbreak pushed this transformation to new heights. Here’s how athletes, fans, and managers are being changed by COVID-19.
Read the Business School article

Wyss Institute develops face masks to detect COVID

A team of researchers from the Wyss Institute has found a way to embed synthetic biology reactions into fabrics, creating wearable biosensors that can be customized to detect pathogens and toxins and alert the wearer.
Read more on The Harvard Gazette

COVID-19 spread increases when UV levels decrease

Seasonal changes in UV may alter the spread of COVID but not as much as social distancing.
Read story at Harvard Gazette

How COVID experiences will reshape the workplace

As organizations prepare for a return to their old workplaces, Harvard Business School faculty say the pandemic has permanently changed the way we work.
Read more on The Harvard Gazette

Harvard Medical School expert explains ‘long COVID’

The health care system is seeing more “long COVID” patients, those whose often mild initial illness is followed up by months of severe, sometimes debilitating symptoms.
Read more on The Harvard Gazette

Researchers measure impact of inequalities on COVID-19 deaths among people of color

It was evident soon after the onset of COVID-19 that it disproportionately harmed Black and Latino communities in the United States — hardly the …
Read more on The Harvard Gazette

Study sheds new light on COVID-19 and mass incarceration

Results of a new Harvard paper are offering lessons on pandemic preparedness and providing another argument against mass incarceration.
Read more on The Harvard Gazette

Two-phase infection

Study sheds light on how severe COVID-19 pneumonia develops.
Read the Medical School article

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