Granite State News Collaborative

View Original

Keene State grad's research helps chart course of COVID-19

By Olivia Belanger
Keene Sentinel

Michael Desjardins. Courtesy photo.

When Michael Desjardins finished his doctoral studies in geography this past December, he intended to study foodborne illnesses. But at the brink of the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S., the Keene State College alumnus’s plans were flipped upside down.

Desjardins, 27, is a post-doctoral fellow in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s department of epidemiology in Baltimore, where he is using geographical methods to understand the viral disease.

“It’s been a crazy ride,” he said. “I had no idea this pandemic would be as severe as it is.”

The Waterbury, Conn., native said he’s been a part of several studies since he began work at the end of January. Most recently, he has helped develop an app — COVID Control — which monitors the health of the U.S. population relative to the disease through a few simple questions.

Read the full article.

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.