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.