The UTRGV Center for Vector-Borne Disease is playing a key role in the Valley’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The center – which normally focuses on viruses like Zika that are transmitted through insect or other arthropod bites – now is helping with COVID-19 testing, which the UTRGV School of Medicine’s clinical practice, UT Health RGV, started March 30 with testing sites in Brownsville and Edinburg. “This was not something we expected to do,” said Dr. John Thomas, UTRGV Assistant Professor of Biology and a founding member of the UTRGV Center for Vector-Borne Disease. “The medical school called me a couple weeks ago ...