In a pandemic, will physicians, who determine that the potential benefit of Ivermectin outweighs its well-documented risks for their patients, finally once again be given free rein to practice medicine?
COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic remains in the nightly news and is always there in our daily lives. Charts, tables, and statistics dominate the discussion; some emphasize counts and quote short-term percentage changes such as a 20% drop in hospitalization. Statistics and pictures may tell COVID-19 stories, but the message may depend on how you look at them. Here we present some examples and discuss the various lessons to be learned.
Since the start of 2021, the media has regularly urged Americans to get their COVID shots as soon as possible. But this effort won't be very effective unless reporters begin changing how they frame their coverage.
Another steroid has been found to prevent serious COVID, but this one is different. Unlike dexamethasone, which is a systemic steroid, budesonide, a drug commonly used for asthma, is dosed directly to the lungs, which makes it much safer. And it seems to work rather well.
It is far easier to view the past, with 20-20 hindsight, than to be able to predict the future. That's especially true for COVID-19, as it continues to challenge the human race.
Last spring, New York City was the first major COVID-19 hot spot in the U.S., with cases and subsequent deaths surging out of control. Residents sought refuge from the burgeoning plague by fleeing the City, and suburban real estate markets became inflated. However, by midsummer and fall rates of new COVID cases in New York dropped and became among the lowest in the nation. What happened?
The coronavirus pandemic has spawned an equally concerning mis- and disinformation pandemic. The latest myth is that mRNA vaccines may trigger prion diseases like Alzheimer's.
For those who want to short version: the more things change, the more they stay the same – especially the percentages. Here are some quick details.
"Doctor" Thomas Cowan, who claimed that 5G caused the coronavirus, isn't surrendering his medical license because he's learned his lesson. Instead, he's watched how other quacks have become millionaires and plans to follow in their footsteps.
The CDC's estimate of 83 million infections is really quite stunning, yet few if any people are talking about this. That's a real shame. It's vital that we learn not to repeat the same mistakes, including the social and economic ones, not just the epidemiological ones.
There are five criteria to consider before deciding if a vaccine should be mandatory. So far, COVID vaccines only satisfy two of them, which is why they should not be mandatory.
While we lament the lack of cooperation in Western culture that allows a virus to spread, we can simultaneously celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit that allows a cure to be discovered.