Orlando Sentinel

At UCF, a focus on virus projects

With their labs closed, research groups pivot to COVID-19 analyses

- By Naseem S. Miller

In late March, Dr. Michael Kinzel went for his regular earlymorni­ng jog and started thinking about an argument his wife was having on Facebook about the importance of social distancing to slow the spread of coronaviru­s.

That got Kinzel thinking: how could he get rid of the tiny, invisible aerosols that linger in the air after we cough and sneeze?

Kinzel is a mechanical and aerospace engineer who studies fluid dynamics at UCF. Like most other researcher­s, he has been home because of the pandemic. His regular projects are on hold, but his researcher mind is churning.

Along with his colleague Dr.

Kareem Ahmed, he started exploring how to change the characteri­stic of saliva. If the saliva could somehow be thickened, the droplets would be bigger and heavier so they wouldn’t travel far. Thicker saliva also means fewer aerosols, which linger in the air longer than the droplets and are one of the culprits of COVID-19 transmissi­on. The answer, Kinzel thinks, is in some sort of lozenge or cough drop that has a substance like corn starch. The team, which includes two postdoctor­al students, recently received a $200,000 award from the National Science Foundation to continue their work.

“I feel like if anything comes out good from something like this pandemic is, it forces us to rethink how we do everything,” said Kinzel, assistant professor in UCF’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineerin­g.

Kinzel and his colleagues are among dozens of research groups at UCF that have shifted their focus to COVID-19 research. The majority have had to halt their existing projects because they can no longer go to their labs at the university.

“I feel like if anything comes out good from something like this ... it forces us to rethink how we do everything.” Dr. Michael

Kinzel, Department of

Mechanical and Aerospace

Engineerin­g

answer by the Governor as to whether or not the space will be allowed to be fully occupied. If not, we will be reluctantl­y forced to find, with all of the jobs and economic developmen­t it brings, another Republican National Convention site.”

Pre-pandemic, the GOP had estimated 50,000 would come to Charlotte for the convention based at and around its NBA arena.

Cooper’s office responded that state officials are working with the GOP on convention decisions.

“State health officials are working with the RNC and will review its plans as they make decisions about how to hold the

convention in Charlotte,” Cooper spokeswoma­n Dory MacMillan said in an email. “North Carolina is relying on data and science to protect our state’s public health and safety.”

Vice President Mike Pence said Monday on Fox News Channel that convention planning takes months and suggested a state that’s loosened more restrictio­ns could host. He praised reopenings in Texas, Florida and Georgia — all states led by Republican governors.

Calling Trump’s remarks “a very reasonable request,” Pence told Fox that “having a sense now is absolutely essential because of the immense preparatio­ns that are involved, and we look forward to working with Governor Cooper, getting a swift response and, if needs be, if needs be, moving

the national convention to a state that is farther along on reopening and can say with confidence that we can gather there.”

Changing sites would be difficult for reasons including the contract between GOP officials and Charlotte leaders to hold the convention there.

In April, the City Council voted to accept a $50 million federal grant for convention security. Before the vote, City Attorney Patrick Baker noted the overall contract requires parties to follow applicable laws and regulation­s, including Cooper’s executive orders. Cooper’s current order limits indoor gatherings to 10 people. Baker said then that GOP officials had discussed convention alternativ­es but did not elaborate.

Before Monday, Cooper and Trump had displayed little friction

during the pandemic. While Cooper has urged the federal government to provide more testing supplies and protective gear, he’s avoided criticizin­g Trump by name.

Trump, meanwhile, has largely refrained from calling out Cooper as he has other Democratic governors.

Earlier, Trump silently honored the nation’s war dead at a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, which like Fort McHenry is off limits to the public because of the pandemic. Presidents on Memorial Day typically lay a wreath and speak at the hallowed burial ground in Virginia.

But the coronaviru­s crisis, soon to claim its 100,000th life in the U.S., made this year different.

Many attendees arrived wearing masks but removed them for the outdoor ceremony in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Trump, maskless as always in public, gave no remarks. He approached a wreath already in place, touching it and giving a salute.

Trump then traveled to Baltimore, to the chagrin of the city’s mayor, and noted that tens of thousands of service members and national guard personnel are “on the front lines of our war against this terrible virus.”

The U.S. leads the world with more than 1.6 million confirmed coronaviru­s cases and more than 98,000 deaths, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Trump said brave warriors from the nation’s past have shown that “in America, we are the captains of our own fate.”

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