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Ideas for Tackling The Coronavirus
As Covid-19, more commonly known as The Coronavirus, spreads, deciding what to do about it is a dilemma that everyone is now facing. I decided to add my own ideas to the pool in the hopes that someone will be helped or inspired by them.
Firstoff, while I believe that containment may be possible eventually, I think that in the shortrun the most important priority is finding effective treatments for the more serious cases, since there are many vulnerable people who will have their lives critically endangered without them. Also, when effective treatments exist, the panic that currently accents the lives of many people will greatly abate, and some normalcy can return while people focus on defeating the virus altogether. But primarily for now, efforts should be made to identify medications that work to mitigate or arrest the virus' attack on the human body. Recently, some promising results have shown that remdesivir works somewhat against the virus. How well it works will require further studies. Also, there is some potential benefit from engineering virus killing antibodies, culturing them en masse, and then injecting people with them in order to provide some protection against the virus. The antibody approach might provide protection for a number of weeks before a person would need a fresh injection. I'm certain there are other medications and treatments that may also perform well against the virus and I'm sure I've heard of others, but I am listing these for now. While it is said that it will take time to test and approve treatments such as these, I hope that new procedures and guidelines will be approved in light of the emergency nature of the situation in order to speed the testing and approval of drugs that can pass muster. I know I am far from the only one saying this, but in the meantime it is critical that medical facilities are able to aquire the necessary resources for dealing with serious cases of the virus, things such as masks, ventilators, and sanitizers. But again, above all, finding working treatments should be the first priority, as once these have been secured and deployed we will have the greater calm necessary to focus on defeating the virus completely.
Defeating the virus, what may that look like? I don't believe we will be able to indefinitely stop the spread of the virus under the current scenario. The current quarantine and other measures such as social distancing will be quite effective at slowing the virus, but likely will not be ultimately successful at preventing its shadow from looming over our global society and economy. Personally, I believe that defeating and containing the virus will more involve securing a working and safe vaccine and administering it to as many people globally as possible. Recent information indicates that a number of promising vaccine candidates are entering the latter stages of testing and could be ready somewhere between September and early next year. I am hopeful that they are ready sooner, at least on an emergency basis for the most vulnerable of us. The next few months will be telling in this regard.
These are my thoughts on the situation for now. Further updates to this article are likely.
Below are some helpful links regarding ideas referred to in the article:
An example of remdesivir being used clinically with apparent success
Information about a successful Remdesivir trial
An example about the approach of using engineered antibodies
Updated: 05/20/20
Originally published by Eli, The Clown Prophet,
03/22/20