■ We’re at the end of the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
The recent hospitalization of President Donald Trump for COVID-19 has brought renewed focus to the medical treatments available for people infected with the virus. Over the past few weeks, we have heard much discussion about some of these therapies. Some supported by high-quality research, othersmore empiric.
Medical research has identified a few helpful medications and treatments that are having an impact: steroids such as dexamethasone, Remdesivir, an anti-viral drug, and potentially antibody therapy with convalescent plasma that can lessen symptoms, shorten hospitalization, and reduce risk of death among hospitalized patients. The beneficial results have become apparent in hospitals over the last few months and the need for ventilator use is declining.
Other novel drugs are being tested right now with the consent of thousands of willing and hopeful patients and families. Progress, certainly, but do not conclude that COVID-19 has been tamed. With rising cases in many parts of the country, we cannot diminish our vigilance. Nevertheless, the full might of the American biomedical enterprise is behind the effort to find better treatments or preventions.
Regarding prevention, county residents should also take note of promising research just initiated in the outpatient arena. Convalescent plasma (antibodies collected from donors who have survived prior COVID-19 infection) is being tested in two important scenarios: for people who have had a recent high level of exposure to COVID-19 but who test negative, or for people who are newly COVID-19 positive but have only mild symptoms.
Thestudies will testwhether thepromising results of COVID-19 antibodies in hospitalized patients can prevent development of either disease after exposure contraction or prevent more severe illness in those who are COVID-19 positive and early inthecourse. This isgoodnewsfor the scores of county residents who test positive each day and the many more who have high-level COVID-19 exposures through household contacts with infected persons.
Information about this opportunity is available at CovidPlasmaTrial.org. I urge consideration if in one of the two scenarios described.
Good news, too, comes in the form of confirmation by medical studies that use of facemasks and othermethods of physically reducing droplet exposure are very effective in interrupting virus transmission. This modest, low-cost precaution, along with strategic testing, has allowed us to safely re-open our clinics, operating rooms and liberalize visiting policy in our hospital.
And vaccine candidates are now making their way through all-important field trials, where they have to demonstrate that they can protect against the infection in the real world and not just stimulate the immune cells of the body. The first trials are now underway, and the next wave of vaccine candidates are right behind.
Beyond scientific advances, let us also consider the pandemic’s “silver linings.” Every global plague has them. In the 14th century, the bubonic plague led to an acceleration of Church reforms, and the shortage of laborers forced wages up and increased the independence of individual serfs and farmers. Thus, the recurrent plagues of the 14th and 15th centuries are credited by historians with accelerating the end of Feudalism and enlarging human freedoms.
One unforeseen positive outcome of the 1918 Great Influenza was the economic empowerment of women needed in the wartime economy threatened by high influenza mortality rates. Thus economically emboldened, momentum gathered for the partaking of political power too.
So what will be the unforeseen benefits of the current pandemic that future historians will note? For one, we have collectively developed a new or renewed appreciation for those who labor in jobs labeled “essential.” Those who stock our grocery shelves, deliver our packages, and educate and inspire our children. These diligent and brave people too have worked to meet our needs, satisfy our wants and restore normalcy to our lives.
InNovember1942, theUnitedKingdom’s wartime leader, Winston Churchill, updated his nation on the progress of the war saying memorably, “This is not end [of the threat], it is not even the beginning of the end but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
So too it is with COVID-19. We surely remain under a threat. But henceforth we will face the struggle with keener medical insights and more innovative treatments. Perhaps, it is indeed, the end of the beginning.