Rae Ellen Bichell
Rae Ellen Bichell is a reporter for NPR's Science Desk. She first came to NPR in 2013 as a Kroc fellow and has since reported Web and radio stories on biomedical research, global health, and basic science. She won a 2016 Michael E. DeBakey Journalism Award from the Foundation for Biomedical Research. After graduating from Yale University, she spent two years in Helsinki, Finland, as a freelance reporter and Fulbright grantee.
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Antigen testing is starting to become a more common way to test for COVID-19. It looks for the virus’ surface coating, rather than pieces of its genetic material. It’s faster and easier to administer than other tests. Public health experts say it’s important to collect all results — positive and negative — to understand the scale of each state’s outbreak.
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Japanese health officials claim their different approach to contract tracing is one of the “secrets” to their early success in containing COVID-19. But what is so-called "retrospective contact tracing"?
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Colorado researchers will soon begin growing two strains of the virus that causes COVID-19. They’ve contracted with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to help stockpile the virus in case it’s needed in the future for a controversial kind of study.
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The Mountain West states have disproportionately high rates of deaths by suicide. Now, researchers are calling for guidelines on how to alert schools that their students may be at risk.
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In Colorado And Beyond, People Are Skeptical Of A Future COVID-19 Vaccine. Right Now, They Should BeA Colorado poll found that less than half of respondents are "very likely" to get a COVID-19 vaccine once it's available, and about one in five respondents said they are “very unlikely” to get it. Coloradans are not alone in their skepticism.
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Twelve children, many showing mild symptoms or none at all, brought the virus home, infecting at least a dozen more people. One parent ended up in the hospital.
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Colorado researchers weigh in on the FDA's suggestion that it could make a vaccine against COVID-19 available before phase 3 of clinical trials are complete.
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A vaccine against the virus behind COVID-19 offers the only certain return to normalcy. Even so, misinformation and conspiracy theories abound – and a...
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A Utah-based company called Domo is showing public health agencies in the Mountain West where their COVID-19 transmission risk is coming from. Among...
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A large group of outbreak specialists say there’s been a problematic silencing of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during this pandemic.