At the start of field work season, ecologist Jory Brinkerhoff usually advises his crew to watch out for summertime fevers. If you develop a fever at that time of year, he tells them, it’s probably not the flu, but a tick-borne illness.
But this year, Brinkerhoff, who studies human risk for flea- and tick-transmitted diseases at the University of Richmond, didn’t know exactly what to tell his field crew. A fever in the middle of summer 2020 could mean a tick-borne illness. Or, it could mean COVID-19.
