What does one do when faced with a novel coronavirus? One puts one’s faith in our scientists, researchers and medical professionals. Firstly, they were the ones through bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) who initially alerted us back in December to an outbreak in China of what appeared to be a novel coronavirus. From there, the WHO medical researchers and epidemiologists tracked the virus as it spread to other South Asian countries. Next, numerous national health organizations like the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) in the U.S. and the Public Health Agency of Canada began their analysis of related data as to how the virus was being spread and its characteristics.
Sometime in February, after the coronavirus hit Italy and Iran, scientists warned our political masters of what appeared to be an emerging global pandemic. Some politicians immediately took their warnings to heart and began to enact various measures, including “social isolation” and travel restrictions to and from so-called “hot spots”. Other politicians, such as President Trump, downplayed the health dangers involved and were slow to take the advice of the scientists. Finally, in late March, the epidemiologists had enough data to begin their “modelling” of trends in the contagion and mortality rates. Such projections are based on what is an inexact science, and they are not really meant to predict the future. However, they do provide a general guide for policy-makers and health-care systems grappling with a growing pandemic.
In this war on COVID-13, the top public health officials and expert scientists are front and center. Administrations greatly rely on them to justify their restrictive measures and administrative policies. Suddenly, the science has taken a powerful role, unlike in the case of “climate change” where it tends to be either ignored or downplayed. The next phase will be to ascertain, based on the science and data collected through human testing, when the recovery period from the pandemic will emerge. Italy is one of the first countries to hopefully reach the start of a plateau in new cases. Here again administrations will depend on the scientists for guidance. Italian researchers have begun to look at those who have antibodies which prevented serious health impacts or assisted in their recoveries. Using the testing data, although still uncertain, researchers are hopeful that the antibodies may in fact indicate immunity. If such is the case, persons with the antibodies could be allowed to return to their workplaces and normal activities. In New York state, Gov. Andrew Cuomo has already envisioned a potential strategy in which younger people, and people who have antibodies showing they have been cured of the virus, could go back to work.
In the meantime, the invaluable work of scientists to develop effective and safe treatments for COVID-19 is ongoing. Such treatments are most likely still weeks and months from now. In addition, around the globe, researchers are working feverishly on a possible vaccine. Realistically, baring some miracle, a vaccine requiring human trials is a long ways off. In the interim, public officials must continue to implement the precautionary measures needed to limit the impact on our health care systems. They must move immediately to provide front-line workers with the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) and equipment to cope with the predicted numbers of new cases coming into emergency facilities. Needless-to-say, their safety and health is a priority for them, their families and for all of us.
FROLITICKS 