“COVID-19 Virus Enters the Brain, Research Strongly Suggests.” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 17 Dec. 2020, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201217154046.htm.

The article “COVID-19 virus enters the brain, research strongly suggests” explains the cognitive effects of the Coronavirus. Researchers at the University of Washington Health Sciences discovered that the protein spike protein in the virus crosses the blood-brain barrier in mice. This protein most likely causes the brain to release inflammatory products and cytokines, a process that is often referred to as a “cytokines storm.” When the immune senses the virus and proteins in the brain, it overreacts in order to kill them. This storm can cause brain fog, fatigue, and other neurological issues. The virus entering certain brain cells can also explain other symptoms of COVID-19: "We know that when you have the COVID infection you have trouble breathing and that's because there's infection in your lung, but an additional explanation is that the virus enters the respiratory centers of the brain and causes problems there as well" (William A. Banks, professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine).

I am glad that I got to learn more about the effects of the Coronavirus, as it is an important topic given the current state of our world. I had no idea that the brain was affected by the virus, or that the respiratory issues are in part due to the virus’ effects on brain cells. This article provided a great foundation for future research, and I am excited to see what scientists will discover in the future regarding the effects of the Coronavirus on the brain. 

The author of this article summarized everything clearly. I was able to understand everything they wrote about, despite having limited knowledge about the brain. The author should have, however, included more information as to why this research is relevant. What impact do these findings have on the future of medicine or the Coronavirus? Are there possibly other ways in which the virus could impact the brain? Are these effects reversible? Questions like these should have been addressed in the article. Overall, however, I really enjoyed reading this article and look forward to learning more about the neurological effects of the virus.