Coronavirus Survivor To Speak At UC Davis-Based Webinar

DAVIS, CA — The first Yolo County resident to test positive for COVID-19 will join physicians and scientists at the UC Davis-based COVID-19 public awareness webinar set from 1:30 to 4 p.m., on Thursday, April 23, on YouTube Live at Covidactionplan.com.

Marilyn Stebbins, 58, of Davis, a UC San Francisco pharmacist, will tell her story, announced webinar organizer-moderator Walter Leal, UC Davis distinguished professor of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Sciences and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.

The webinar, to include experts in immunology, infectious diseases, pathology and emergency medicine, is free and open to the public. Registration is underway at Zoompresentation.com, where advance questions can be submitted. The webinar also will include live questions.

Looking back, Stebbins related she began getting coldlike symptoms prior to a family skiing trip to Sandpoint, Idaho. An airline flight took her and her husband from Sacramento to Spokane, Washington.

Upon returning home, she sought medical care for what she thought was the flu. She was tested for COVID-19 on March 3, and was informed March 4 she was positive. She was hospitalized for three days with what she calls the “worst illness I've ever had.”

In her story, “My COVID-19 Journey,” which appears on the UCSF School of Pharmacy website, Bit.ly/2x1pqIe, Stebbins describes herself as “a healthy, fit, 58-year-old woman who enjoys distance trail running, weekly circuit training, and Pilates. I'd completed a 30K trail race just before the departure date for my vacation and looked forward to a 50K race two weeks after my return home.”

Controversy erupted when a Yolo County Health Department press release inaccurately described her as “an older woman with underlying health conditions.”

Stebbins said her symptoms included headache, diarrhea, nausea, coughing, and chills but “I never had a fever.” Family members, including her husband, who were with her on the skiing trip, have not contracted the disease.

The webinar is expected to draw a widespread audience. Chancellor Gary May will give the introduction. The main speakers are UC Davis physician-scientists Emanuel Maverakis, Stuart Cohen and Nathan Kuppermann; UC Davis veterinarian-scientist Nicole Baumgarth; physician Ron Chapman, Yolo County Health Officer; and pediatrician State Sen. Richard Pan, District 6 chair, Senate Committee on Health.

UC Davis distinguished professor James R. Carey of the Department of Entomology and Nematolgoy will share his modeling expertise. UC Davis You-Lo Hsieh, distinguished professor, UC Davis Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, and an expert on textiles and clothing, will explain the differences between regular masks, surgical masks, and N95 masks and provide other information.

By Kathy Keatley Garvey, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology