Tag: COVID-19
COVID in Children
Recent evidence suggests children can be carriers of SARS-CoV-2, which has implications as schools reopen this Fall.
Can “optimizing your metabolism” through diet prevent or cure COVID-19?
A favorite claim by those favoring "holistic" therapies is that using diet to "optimize metabolism" can prevent or treat COVID-19. These claims are of a piece with similar claims for many other diseases and are just as exaggerated.
Does convalescent plasma work against COVID-19? Who knows?
Last night, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19, even though there are no randomized clinical trials demonstrating efficacy and safety. Does this plasma work? Who knows? But that didn't stop the FDA from issuing the EUA, almost certainly as a result of intense political pressure from the Trump Administration.
Dexamethasone and Hydroxychloroquine: Why Randomized Controlled Trials Matter
What does the best evidence tell us about hydroxychloroquine and dexamethasone?
Oleandra – The New COVID Snake Oil
Oleandrin is being promoted as the new COVID-19 snake oil - but it is a deadly toxin.
Russian and Other COVID Vaccines
Russia's approval of a COVID-19 vaccine is premature and counterproductive.
HCQTrial.com: Astroturf and disinformation about hydroxychloroquine and COVID-19 on steroids
Late last week, a "study" published on HCQTrial.com by an anonymous source claiming to be a group of PhD scientists went viral. It claimed that countries that used hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19 had a 79% lower fatality rate than those who didn't. It was horrible science and quickly debunked on Twitter by several epidemiologists. That didn't stop it from going viral. Disinformation...
The perils and pitfalls of “doing your own research” about COVID-19 (or any other science)
Ethan Siegel at Forbes argues that you "must not 'do your own research.'" While the title grates, Siegel is correct that most of us are not really capable of "doing our own research" about most scientific and medical questions because we lack the necessary background. We must therefore be humble and be very, very careful about "doing our own research."
Preventing The Next Pandemic
Scientists saw the pandemic coming, but world leaders failed to listen. How can we prevent and minimize the next one?
Hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19: Evidence can’t seem to kill it
Despite the accumulating negative evidence showing that hydroxychloroquine doesn't work against COVID-19, activists continue to promote it as a way out of the pandemic. This week, the AAPS and a Yale epidemiologist joined the fray with embarrassingly bad arguments.