With great caution, scientists seek Covid treatments in old drugs

‘After two small studies, a cheap drug shows promise. But scientists still feel burned by hydroxychloroquine.

‘Repurposing is a long shot, yet compared to creating drugs and vaccines, the approach has clear advantages during a fast-moving pandemic. “If it works and it’s on the shelf, you don’t have any development time,” said Lisa Danzig, a specialist in infectious diseases who consults with companies, investors, government and philanthropies. One of the best treatments in the Covid arsenal — the common steroid dexamethasone — is a repurposed drug. But it is recommended only for hospitalized patients who are seriously ill.

‘Danzig was “very excited” last April by news that a team led by University of California-San Francisco researchers had identified 69 possible drugs that, when used early on, might counteract infections with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid. “I’m thinking, if we can rapidly test some of these in clinical trials, we can have answers by October.”

‘Yet these studies struggled to get off the ground...’

Read here (Undark, Mar 30, 2021)

How do faithless people like me make sense of this past year of Covid?

‘Many of us yearn for meaning. But in our individualistic, secular society we lack even the flimsiest of narratives to guide us...

‘Long before Covid’s arrival, it was clear this was something too many people were losing touch with. Through decades of secularisation, cheered on by irreligious liberals, not nearly enough thought was ever given to what might take on the social roles of a church. The demise of the factory and the collectivised lives that went with it marked another loss. And now, long years of cuts have obliterated many of the shared spaces we had left, from libraries and Sure Starts to community centres.

‘The pandemic has shone unforgiving light on the consequences. A British Academy report on “the long-term societal impacts of Covid-19” found that the age group most likely to experience loneliness during the first lockdown was 16- to 24-year-olds. In the past decade, spending in England and Wales on youth services has been cut by 70%. As life after Covid unfolds, such choices will look not just reckless but downright cruel.

‘Three years ago, Anthony Costello – a former director of maternal and child health at the World Health Organization – published a book titled The Social Edge, focused on the so-called “sympathy groups” that sit between the state and the individual. “Religious or therapy groups have always offered solace and peace and relaxation and friendship,” he wrote. “They help us in our spiritual quest for meaning and wellbeing.” Church groups, choirs, sport and dance clubs, he went on, “bring harmony and relaxation to tired minds” and give people “a greater sense of being alive”.

‘Costello proposed using similar structures to tackle loneliness in old age, prisoner recidivism, “stress in motherhood” and much more. Now, in the context of Covid and its long-term social effects, this sounds like something millions of us might sooner or later need. Whatever our experiences, what we have all been through is huge. And as an act of post-pandemic healing, encouraging the growth of such initiatives would surely not be too hard. Fund and create public spaces – parks, halls, arts venues, meeting rooms – and revive the most grassroots aspects of local government, and you would create roughly the right conditions.’

Read here (The Guardian, Mar 28, 2021)

The Nightingale alternative: Cast out fear in favour of love

‘According to Miss Nightingale: “True nursing ignores infection, except to prevent it. Cleanliness and fresh air from open windows, with unremitting attention to the patient, are the only defence a true nurse either asks or needs. Wise and humane management of the patient is the best safeguard against infection.”

‘Tell that to those who decided that old people already suffering from life-threatening complaints should be shut away for months on end, deprived of free movement in the open air and of the contact they crave with those they love!

‘And what would a woman who remarked, “How very little can be done under the spirit of fear!” have thought of the deliberate incitement of terror which has been the hallmark of public policy in the UK for the past eleven months?

‘What would her opinion have been of a government that splashes out apparently unlimited sums of public money on fear-inducing propaganda, with the aim of increasing “the perceived level of personal threat…using hard-hitting emotional messaging”?

‘A Nightingale approach to Covid, and to all infections, would allow us to cast out fear in favour of love, resolving the present conflict between concern for public health and the moral imperatives which should always take precedence over panicked speculation.

‘It would, however, be exceedingly inconvenient for those currently seizing the chance to impose their anti-human agendas on humanity, under cover of a pandemic.’

Read here (OffGuardian, Mar 7, 2021) 

Finding an ultimate vaccine to fight the mutating “emperor” virus

‘We are commenting on the shocking CNN website report (March 2), headlined “All our recent progress with COVID-19 could be wiped out by variants, CDC director says”. The first two paragraphs (below) are enough to sum up the CNN report: “The US is at risk of losing all its recent gains in the battle against COVID-19 as highly contagious variants take advantage of Americans getting lax with safety measures... “Please hear me clearly: At this level of cases with variants spreading, we stand to completely lose the hard-earned ground we have gained,” said Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the US centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”...

‘With new variants, serious doubts are suggested by the CNN report on whether this “vaccine” [mRNA], the first in the global market, would work, even if safety factor is put aside. Nevertheless, there are safe and workable vaccines, using tried and tested technologies like using inactivated or attenuated virus from nature to stimulate the body to produce anti-body response. Even the adenovirus viral vector technology, tried and tested for Ebola, appears to be safer than mRNA.

‘There are also safe and good alternatives, like the anti-viral “broad spectrum” drug Ivermectin, which can destroy the new variants. In the meantime, it is vital that we improve our body immunity against COVID-19 by taking Vitamin C with zinc, Vitamin D, minerals and trace elements needed, explore proven traditional and complimentary medicines, and maintain established standard operating procedures (SOPs) of physical distancing, wearing surgical masks and personal hygiene in public places.’

Read here (Focus Malaysia, Mar 4, 2021)

How Covid-19 vaccine efforts could help defeat other diseases

• A proposed way of immunizing against malaria uses an RNA-based approach similar to COVID-19 vaccines.
• ‘Viral vector’ methods used to stem the pandemic could also yield vaccines for other purposes.
• COVID-19 vaccination achievements could be applied to diseases that kill millions of people annually.

Read here (World Economic Forum, Mar 4, 2021)

Is mass vaccination the best strategy for all countries? A doctor's surprising view

‘COVID-19 is now the second-leading cause of death in the U.S. for 2020. The virus has killed more than 90 people per 100,000, reports Johns Hopkins University. 

‘But in other parts of the world, the virus hasn't been such a big problem. It's not a top killer. Some global health experts are beginning to ask whether immunizing large swaths of the population is the best use of resources for these countries. That's a question that Dr. Chizoba Barbara Wonodi of Johns Hopkins University has been thinking about as mass nationwide vaccine campaigns begin rolling out in rich countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States.’

Read here (NPR, Dec 14, 2020)

‘This was a gift to us’: Ivermectin effective for Covid-19 prophylaxis, treatment

‘Numerous studies have provided evidence supporting the use of ivermectin to prevent and treat COVID-19, according to the Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance. Paul Marik, MD, FCCM, FCCP, founder of the alliance and a professor and chief of the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School, said that ivermectin “is a safe drug that is exceedingly cheap.”

‘He added that “what is truly remarkable — this was a gift to us — ivermectin has high activity against COVID-19.” In a press conference, researchers said that ivermectin is an FDA-approved anti-parasitic drug that has been available for approximately 40 years and previously earned researchers a Nobel Prize.’

Read here (Healio, Dec 8, 2020)

FLCCC Alliance: Review of the emerging evidence demonstrating the efficacy of Ivermectin in the prophylaxis and treatment of COVID-19

Read PDF here (FLCCC Alliance, Dec 7, 2020) 

How the coronavirus pandemic exposed the dark side of Western democracy

‘A Lowy Institute report reviewing such trends [the systematic dismantling of science, expertise and rule of law] concluded that “the concept of a rules-based international order has been stripped of meaning, while liberalism faces its greatest crisis in decades”. If these writers and many more are correct that Western “democracies” have trashed core components of democracy, it is only fair to ask what Western statesmen mean when they castigate others for failing to adopt democracy...’

Read here (South China Morning Post, Oct 4, 2020)

Priorities for the Covid-19 economy: Joseph Stiglitz

‘Because Covid-19 looks likely to remain with us for the long term, we have time to ensure that our spending reflects our priorities. When the pandemic arrived, American society was riven by racial and economic inequities, declining health standards, and a destructive dependence on fossil fuels. Now that government spending is being unleashed on a massive scale, the public has a right to demand that companies receiving help contribute to social and racial justice, improved health, and the shift to a greener, more knowledge-based economy. These values should be reflected not only in how we allocate public money, but also in the conditions that we impose on its recipients.’

Read here (Project Syndicate, July 1, 2020)

The essential but invisible trade: TRAFFIC sounds alarm over sustainability of wild plants used to treat Covid-19

‘Wild plant species used in herbal treatments of Covid-19 are set to come under heightened harvesting pressure, both as a result of increased demand and because of more people turning to wild harvesting as an alternative source of income during times of high unemployment and economic crisis. The future availability of plant ingredients to support human health—through medicines, food and well-being products—is dependent on prioritising the conservation and sustainable use of their source species in the long-term.’

Read here (Traffic, June 18, 2020)

How Uruguay has coped with Covid-19

‘By June 18th Uruguay had reported 849 confirmed cases and 24 deaths from covid-19, the lowest number as a share of population of any country in South America. Uruguay has administered 55,215 tests, a regional record... Luis Lacalle Pou, the centre-right president, was swift but not strict. On March 13th he declared an emergency and shut the borders. Like the populist leaders of Brazil and Mexico, he is at pains to shield the economy. Unlike them, he does not make light of the disease...

‘The government calls its policy libertad responsable (responsible liberty). It shut down schools, cinemas and shopping malls. It urged people to work from home, wear face masks and keep their distance from each other, but did not confine them to their houses. Mr Lacalle Pou “was not going to imprison people”, says an adviser.’

Read here (The Economist, June 20, 2020)

Tale of Covid-19 in two Indian cities: Dharavi, Mumbai, a rare success, and Delhi which was “messed up”

‘Asia's largest slum Dharavi was being seen as a 'Covid-engine' that will drive Mumbai in the wrong direction. But with conscious efforts, the slum's Covid doubling rate has come down to 44 days, twice as good as Mumbai’s 22. Delhi sadly is a study in contrast with India’s highest test positivity rates. In episode 496 of ThePrint's #CutTheClutter, Shekhar Gupta talks about the lessons from Dharavi & new plan for Delhi.’

Watch here (Youtube, June 14, 2020)

There are coronavirus solutions for resource-poor countries, too

‘No country, let alone poor countries, can afford to risk the health of, or indeed, drive away precious healthcare workers. Rather than put them at risk of infection, and in turn, risk infecting their patients, governments should consider alternatives. In this respect, Rwanda showed leadership. Their whole-of-government approach included: deterring people with suspected COVID-19 infections from coming to health facilities unless seriously unwell; minimising contact between health workers and infected patients; and focusing on prevention and care within communities.

‘The good news is that following decades of investments, many resource-poor countries have fleets of community-based health workers (CHWs). These workers deliver door-to-door services and know their communities well.’

Read here (Aljazeera, May 29, 2020)

‘Normal’ life failed us. The coronavirus crisis gives us the chance to rethink a new economy

’The basics hardly involve a huge leap of imagination: to some extent, they mix what might be salvaged from recent Labour politics with ideas that have long been in circulation way beyond the traditional left. The lives of people at the bottom of most socio-economic hierarchies will soon need to be lastingly improved, perhaps via an initial minimum income guarantee of the kind embraced by the coalition government in Spain. Given that we are unlikely to be able to revive a featherweight labour market based around retail and services, the time ought to be ripe for the economy to be pushed at last towards a green new deal, and the revival of manufacturing.’

Read here (The Guardian, May 17, 2020)

Patterns of pain: What Covid-19 can teach us about how to be human

‘Our institutions will need to be rebuilt with transparency, with heart and by learning from the people who have been staffing them, not just the managers and owners. Doctors, nurses, carers and delivery people have things to say about how their institutions could be better run. The body politic and the politics of the bodies that make up our world must be reconfigured, and we need to start thinking about that now.

‘I conclude with Freud: “The aim of psychoanalysis is to turn hysteria into ordinary human unhappiness.” That is an accomplishment for an individual and for a society. We cannot escape unhappiness. It is constitutive of being human, just as are creativity, courage, ambition, attachment and love. Let’s embrace the complexity of what it means to be human in this time of sorrow as we think and feel our way to come out of this, wiser, humbler and more connected.’

Read here (The Guardian, May 7, 2020)

Manifesto for post-neoliberal development: Five policy strategies for the Netherlands after the Covid-19 crisis

‘The Manifesto calls the Dutch Government to implement five key policy strategies for moving forward during and after the Covid-19 crisis:

• A move away from “development” focused on aggregate GDP growth;
• An economic framework focused on redistribution;
• Transformation towards regenerative agriculture;
• Reduction of consumption and travel; and
• Debt cancellation.

‘This Manifesto brings to the forefront some fundamental concerns of degrowth scholars and activists, and shows that these concerns are close to the hearts and minds of many academics who may not (yet) see themselves as part of the degrowth community. Particularly relevant is the link between economic development, the loss of biodiversity and important ecosystem functions, and the opportunity for diseases like COVID-19 to spread among humans. The Manifesto proposes policies that, as research tells us, are critical for a more sustainable, equal and diverse society - one that can better prevent and deal with shocks, including climate change related ones, and pandemics to come.’

Read here (Ontgroei, April 16, 2020)

Related:

Use crisis to make post corona society fairer and sustainable, say scientists. Read here

Reflexivity in the age of pandemia: Adaptive policy making and the Covid-19 crisis

The authors argue that ’the current tendency of using the war metaphor is not the way to respond. Such a metaphor is useful to mobilise and rally people around a short-term external threat. But it is also the root cause for the chaos we are experiencing now – the lack of government preparedness despite having experienced similar events such as the ‘Spanish’ Flu, SARS or the Zika virus epidemic throughout the last century. The war metaphor masks the fact that the threat of pandemic is a long game requiring a more complex response at the local, national and global levels of society.

’We require far-reaching changes to the way we design and organise our cities and supply chains, and a rethinking of the way we interact and transact as a global society. Arundhati Roy wrote recently that, “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew.” In this paper, we argue that such a response would require reshaping policy making around the concept of reflexivity and made operational through an adaptive policy making approach.’

Read further and download here (Think City, April 2020)

Will religion lead Covid reform? Joachim Ng

‘This original belief that God and nature are dual modes of one whole reality did not get lost but was preserved in many scriptures. An integral part of this belief is compassion for animals. Folks in Wuhan may be surprised to learn that China’s major indigenous religion, Confucianism, has strong reservations about meat-eating.

‘The Works of Mencius contain these verses: “Beasts devour one another, and people hate them for doing so” (Book 1, Pt1, Ch4, v.5). “So is the superior person affected towards animals, that, having seen them alive, he cannot bear to see them die; having heard their dying cries, he cannot bear to eat their flesh” (Ch7, v.8).

‘If religions continue their spiritual distancing from one another and from the original faith in nature, they will lose their relevance to society. This is the moment of truth: Will religion lead Covid reform?’

Read here (theSun Daily, April 14, 2020)

Leaders in Africa, South Asia, and Latin America need to look carefully at alternative policies

‘Some possibilities include:

• A universal mask-wearing requirement when workers leave their homes (as masks and homemade face coverings are comparatively cheap, and such a policy is likely feasible for almost all countries to implement); 
• Targeted social isolation of the elderly and other at-risk groups, while permitting productive individuals with lower-risk profiles to continue working; 
• Improving access to clean water, hand-washing, and sanitation, and other policies to decrease the viral load; and 
• Widespread social influence and information campaigns to encourage behaviours that slow the spread of disease but do not undermine economic livelihoods. This could include restrictions on the size of religious and social gatherings or programs to encourage community and religious leaders to endorse safer behaviours and communicate them clearly.’

Read here (Foreign Policy, April 10, 2020)