6 minute read
COVID-19: Our response
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the UEA family have been coming together to offer vital help.
For people around the world, 2020 has been one of the most difficult years ever faced. The death toll continues to rise, health systems are overstretched and global lockdowns threaten livelihoods.
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Yet there has been positivity in the face of adversity. With a common goal to drive us, the UEA family has drawn even closer and aimed our resources towards research, support and solutions.
David Ellis, Director of Development, said, “UEA is pulling together to face this challenge – both for our students and the local and global communities. It has undoubtedly made us all stronger, and wiser.
“I’ve been humbled by the generous response of our alumni and supporters. In just the first three months of the crisis, the COVID-19 Student Hardship Fund raised £80,000 and the COVID-19 Research Fund reached an astounding £270,000 to allow UEA scientists to respond at pace.”
Two of the first projects made possible by the COVID-19 Research Fund were led by Prof Bill Fraser and Dr Stuart Rushworth.
A VITAL ANTIBODY TEST
This extraordinary generosity is now funding the production of an antibody test by Prof Bill Fraser, Head of Norwich Medical School at UEA and a Consultant Metabolic Physician and Chemical Pathologist at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH).
Prof Fraser’s test, which detects whether a patient has had the virus before and since recovered, will be crucial in the long-term recovery from the pandemic. It could help NHS, care home and other key workers return to work safely and help the general population return to their daily lives.
Philanthropic support from Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Hertfordshire Freemasons and The Lugden Hill Charity provided the specialist equipment needed for the team to scale up testing from 600 tests to more than 2,000 per day.
DETECTING THE INFECTION
Dr Stuart Rushworth, group leader for molecular haematology research at Norwich Medical School, worked to produce coronavirus tests and is now developing a new way to detect those with an infectious virus.
Previous tests determined whether or not a patient had already been infected with COVID-19, but couldn’t tell if it was live, replicating and dangerous to others. That meant long periods of quarantine for everyone, regardless of the actual risk.
Dr Rushworth’s new polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab test stands to change that. This vital work, funded by Norwich Consolidated Charities, The Geoffrey Watling Charity and other supporters of our COVID-19 Research Fund, could be a key difference that helps avoid future lockdowns should the virus resurge in the coming years.
A VOICE OF REASON
Prof Paul Hunter, Professor in Medicine at UEA, has been a major voice in the UK media on COVID-19 and an advisor to the World Health Organization (WHO). His research has most recently focused on the effectiveness of the use of face masks in the prevention of disease outside of a hospital environment and the impact of ‘fake news’ or misinformation on disease outbreaks.
“I am one of hundreds of experts across the globe who provide advice and documentation for WHO to advise on infection prevention and control,” said Prof Hunter. “Misinformation means that bad advice can circulate very quickly – and our research showed it can change human behaviour to take greater risks. It’s absolutely vital that experts do media work because we have a responsibility for public health. I’ve been pleased to see many others at UEA also taking on this role through the crisis.”
SUPPORTING OUR STUDENTS
Alongside our commitment to support the scientific and medical response, we were also concerned about student welfare. The COVID-19 Student Hardship Fund was launched with the utmost urgency.
At UEA, we acted to shut down our campus and move to online teaching, tutorials and assessment. Health and wellbeing was our priority but, nevertheless, some faced difficulties as a consequence.
The government’s unavoidable decision to temporarily close local businesses, which employed many UEA students, left many out of work and without the income they relied upon to fund their studies. Halls of residence fees were waived, but many students renting privately risked falling behind in their payments. Those travelling home from abroad faced huge airfares to return. For some, simply buying food and basic essentials soon became an enormous burden. We also saw the effects of digital poverty, as the closure of the Library meant a number of students lost their only access to a computer, leaving them no way to study online.
A NEW HARDSHIP FUND
UEA soon received a rapid rise in requests for urgent financial aid to the existing student hardship fund. In the three months following lockdown, our generous supporters gave £80,000 to support the creation of the new COVID-19 Student Hardship Fund.
This generosity helped us respond to the need more quickly and provide access to financial assistance with basic living costs and vital equipment needed to complete studies.
We are deeply grateful for all gifts to the COVID-19 Student Hardship Fund, which is safeguarding students and supporting them to continue their education.
SUPPORTING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY
In response to the national emergency, we also set about putting our campus resources to use. Our scientists turned dormant teaching laboratories in the donorsupported New Science Building into sanitiser gel factories. With help from the Lord-Lieutenant for Norfolk, we worked with regional brewers and distilleries to create hand sanitiser for regional NHS trusts and foundations, local authorities and local cancer patients.
A project to 3D print parts for personal protective equipment (PPE) helped provide supplies at a local and national level, in partnership with healthcare providers and businesses.
Now-vacant UEA halls of residence were made available to local NHS workers as temporary accommodation, and NHS essential workers were offered childcare in our closed Sportspark too.
Louise Cooper, a Radiographer in the Breast Imaging Department at NNUH, said “I cannot express how valuable the Sportspark has been to me and my family. It has allowed me to come to work and contribute to fighting COVID-19 – and meant I can feel happy that my children are experiencing fun and normality during this strange time.
“The staff are amazing and the children cannot wait to get there in the morning. I cannot thank UEA and its supporters enough. It has been the saving grace for our family.”
Fifth-year UEA medical students also worked on the frontline in hospitals, others volunteered as childminders for NHS workers and our student nurses took on additional hospital placements, offering vital emergency support.
UEA researchers also used 3D printers like this one to produce PPE parts and support the pandemic response.
STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
Our actions during the hardest times define us. Thank you to everyone in the UEA family – including supporters, students and staff – for your relentless efforts that helped to protect our hospitals and save lives.
THE RESPONSE AT UEA
Expanding our test capacity
Thanks to generous supporters, Prof Fraser has been able to purchase a high volume pipettor to scale up testing capacity by a factor of three. He said, “We really are very grateful for the philanthropic support, which was raised in under three weeks. It’s fantastic!”
Childcare for key workers
The closure of schools and nurseries meant local NHS workers struggled to find suitable childcare. Thanks to funding from Santander Universities worth £42,500, a day-care was opened at UEA’s closed Sportspark for children aged five to fifteen years old, supported by UEA students and staff.
Supplying vital NHS resources
In 12 weeks of production, UEA produced 3,880 litres of hand sanitiser for NHS partners. UEA Vice-Chancellor, Prof David Richardson, said, “I am immensely proud – that’s enough to wash 1.3 million pairs of hands! The University has the community at its heart and this proves it.”
