Now that the paper published in The Lancet, on the use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19, has been retracted, we need to look at how eminence continues to trump evidence. When we talk about humans and their behavior, everything is political.
COVID-19
We tend to overlook how natural disasters like the coronavirus pandemic shape human behavior. Maybe that should change.
We're social animals, and we want to socialize. We're also lazy, and we want to do whatever is easiest or most convenient. Those two facts about human nature, far more than the coronavirus, will shape our future.
Perhaps you've noticed: Hospitals are asking you to come back for your routine care. Amongst the surge in caring for COVID-19 patients, elective care, especially remunerative procedural care, was pushed to the sidelines. One source suggests that overall cancer care has decreased by 37% during the pandemic.
Infectious disease models can also describe riots. The spread of coronavirus and violent protests share many features in common, shedding at least some light on the coming summer of discontent.
Royce Chen, M.D., an ophthalmologic surgeon at NY-Presbyterian Hospital, was looking at far more than eyes once the COVID-19 pandemic hit New York. He and other physicians were redeployed to the ICU to help care for the new influx of patients. His article addresses an interesting question - which specialties were hardest hit? And how did physicians in the New York area feel about the PPE provided for them? (Hint: not so good.)
Currently, COVID-19 vaccines are all the rage. Expectations are not only high, they are too high. ACSH friend, and former trustee, Dr. Paul Offit gives us a much-needed reality check. A vaccine, especially a very effective one, is unlikely to be in the cards anytime soon. Although it is always better to prevent an infection than treat one, antiviral drugs are likely to be the tools to control coronavirus well before a vaccine appears.Here's how Dr. Offit sees this playing out.
The COVID-19 lockdown is responsible for both the loss of economic activity and human lives. Two independent groups of researchers concluded that the lockdown may be costing more lives than it saves.
Virtually every day there's news about one or more clinical trials in progress or being planned. But most people don't fully understand what the different trials mean. ACSH advisor Dr. Katherine Seley-Radtke gives us a primer that clearly explains the entire process. Timely reading.
American culture, specifically our disdainful attitude toward expertise and leadership, is not conducive to making improvements to public health policy. Don't expect many changes in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Somewhere along the way, our achievable goal of "flattening the curve" for COVID-19 has mutated into "finding a cure," which is perhaps an impossible one. Public health and economic policy must be based on reality, not starry-eyed wish-making. Otherwise, people's lives and livelihoods are in grave danger.
As we turn to social mingling once again, those of us blessed with 20-20 hindsight are increasingly angry at the models used by policymakers in locking us down. It is time to speak of the misuse of tools and regret.