covid stories

The COVID-19 pandemic has separated us, but sharing stories about how members of the campus community have been surviving — and even thriving — since last spring can help draw us together. Berkeley News has gathered inspiring personal tales of heartache and triumph related to the coronavirus.

man and woman in face masks and white coats looking upward at Petri dish

Research

What makes Omicron more infectious than other COVID-19 variants?

Labs at the Gladstone Institute and Berkeley's Innovative Genomics Institute used virus-like particles to identify which parts of the SARS-CoV-2 virus are responsible for its increased infectivity and spread.

Yuki Burton posing with cakes on a table.

Campus & community

Berkeley staffer Yuki Burton raises funds, creates community through cake

Three girls in masks during the pandemic walk away from a technology giveaway with a box containing a free laptop made possible by Connect-In-Place, a free remote camp that also raised money for students in need of laptops and other technology.

Campus & community

COVID Stories: A free online camp? UC Berkeley students create a winner

a screenshot of five people in a Zoom meeting

Campus & community

COVID Stories: What is it like to be hearing impaired during COVID-19?

Leaning on a railing, Harris Mojadedi look out at San Francisco Bay from Pier 7)

COVID Stories: To be there for others, put your well-being first

Students Brendan Huang and Carolyn Hong bake sourdough bread together. They're wearing aprons and laughing.

COVID Stories: Sourdough bread with a purpose

Harley Shaiken poses with his bike with the Teton Range in the background. He's wearing a bright yellow parka andblack biking shorts.

COVID Stories: A professor and injured cyclist slows, mends, rides again

Surfer Katia Gibson poses with her surfboard at Emma Wood State Beach off Ventura Highway

COVID Stories: Fourth-year student grabs her surfboard, pursuing endless summer

Tomie Lenear smiling

COVID Stories: Why it’s important to let the little things go

Ph.D. student Alberto Sanchez-Sanchez stands on a balcony on the historical landmark house from the 17th century that he bought in his hometown of Used, Spain.

COVID Stories: Restoring a 17th century manor in Spain

Gloria Tumushabe, a Ugandan graduate student at Berkeley, sits at her laptop in Walnut Creek and teaches young women in Uganda how to code during the pandemic.

COVID Stories: The chance to teach young Ugandan women to code

From left to right: Johan, Christel, Sol, and Kelly Figueroa celebrating New Year's in Los Angeles' Boyle Heights neighborhood.

COVID Stories: Realizing the value you bring can mend relationships

Laura Counts, in her wetsuit, joins friends in the bay off Alameda at sunrise.

COVID Stories: When swimming in the bay, ‘everything else falls away’