So many missteps, so many deaths
Knowing what went wrong is essential to get a grip on COVID-19 and to prevent future public health crises from going this way. Meantime, Trump calls New Zealand COVID-19 situation "terrible."
The three weeks that made an unfixable difference: A team of Wall Street Journal reporters led by my former colleague Stephanie Armour compiled a detailed report on three “lost weeks” in February, when COVID-19 spread and U.S. testing failed. Among the findings: The public health emergency declaration issued on January 31 created additional regulatory hurdles for hospitals or state labs to introduce their own tests.
COVID-19 has killed six times more Americans than in any other high-income nation, according to an analysis by Axios. One key difference is that other nations, such as Italy, took aggressive steps to stop the spread of COVID-19 once the epidemic was detected.
Study supports Pepcid (famotidine) as COVID-19 treatment:A study at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut finds that the anti-heartburn drug Pepcid appears to significantly reduce COVID-19 deaths, even when accounting for other treatment such as remdesivir. However, the study was based on a retrospective chart review and therefore not definitive. Read more on Medpage Today.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has come full circle on the mask question, now advocating for masks even in backyard family gatherings. “Until we have better medications that can treat COVID-19, until we have the vaccines that will end COVID-19, people must maintain vigilance, even when just gathering with family members, to make sure you do continue to wear masks.”
Maybe this was a joke? President Trump said today that the 22 COVID-19 cases discovered in New Zealand in the past few days are a “big surge. It’s terrible. We don’t want that.”
Editor’s note: This newsletter will be published Monday-Thursday most weeks with occasional supplements on Fridays or Sundays. And, if you have any questions or suggestions for topics or anything else, please leave a comment here.