Nasal hygiene and COVID | A natural therapy for COVID-19? | Indiana’s data sharing is a model
NAVIGATING THE RECOVERY
Fast Future Country fights the pandemic
A special report from: 
Fast Future U RESEARCH
Vandy researchers study nasal hygiene and COVID 
Image by Fotomay for Shutterstock
You’ve been obsessively washing your hands for the past seven months, but how clean is your nose? In a study we presume had at least a few researchers shouting “not it!,” doctors at Vanderbilt University are studying whether nasal saline irrigation can reduce symptoms in patients with COVID-19.
Patients were instructed to use a common over-the-counter saline solution twice per day and were then assessed for the presence or absence of symptoms of fever, cough, chill, and congestion. Researchers are also looking at the data to see if the solution had an impact on patients’ level of contagion.
U of Michigan will study COVID immunology There are so many unanswered questions about the body’s immune response to COVID-19. Can people who’ve had the virus get infected a second time? If you become reinfected, are you contagious? If you are protected naturally (without a vaccine), how long does that immunity last? How can we measure both the level and length of immunity?
U-M scientists believe the study will not only answer questions about COVID immunity but also help understand “correlates of protection,” which are used to keep tabs on the virus as it mutates and which could be helpful in updating vaccines. The study is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Cancer Institute.
Cincy research points to natural therapy for COVID-19 Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have discovered a potential treatment for COVID-19: a naturally occurring lipid in the body. The lipid, known as sphingosine, has been used to prevent and eliminate bacterial infections, and the Cincinnati team believes it may also stop COVID. The team published its findings in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
PANDEMIC INNOVATION
Indiana’s data sharing is a model for other states Data sharing between state agencies can be a nightmare. Especially when data becomes as immediately important as it has during the COVID pandemic. Fortunately, due to proactive measures, the state of Indiana was prepared.
Privacy rules regarding health, education, or law enforcement can seem downright byzantine, and many agencies have their own set of customs for dealing with data. Last winter, the Hoosier state’s data analytics office completed a data standardization process that established policies to remove legal or technical reasons to decline data-sharing requests.
The office determined that 90% of the language in department agreements was near-identical. They standardized the language, making it easier to make data requests and to recycle data-sharing agreements, including those with university researchers. They also built a data-sharing “sandbox” using Microsoft Azure to further streamline the process. The overhaul, completed in March, was a godsend when COVID-19 hit.
Tulsa nurse starts business to help teachers A nurse in Tulsa has launched a business aimed at supporting school teachers during the pandemic. The nurse, Danielle Kapple, spent time in a New Jersey hospital treating COVID-19 patients. There, she saw first-hand what it’s like to try to do a job without the necessary supplies. So she and her business partner, Ji Kim, created TeacherBOX, a monthly subscription service that allows parents to fund items—such as PPE and school supplies—that their kids’ teachers need, but which they might otherwise have to purchase themselves or go without.
The subscriptions range in price from $10 to $20. Teachers can select the items they need, such as masks, hand sanitizer, art supplies, and classroom decorations, and receive a box every month.
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