What once started off as a seemingly non-threatening, flu-like virus, COVID-19 has radically impacted almost every aspect of the world. Now classified as a pandemic, COVID-19 poses a significant public health risk, causing local and national governments to implement severe, but important restrictions for its citizens. The purpose of this exercise is to limit and slow down the spread of the virus, which can be highly contagious if preventive measures are not taken, such as frequent handwashing, safe coughing/sneezing practices, and avoiding highly congested areas. As mentioned in previous blog posts, COVID-19 presents with symptoms similar to that of the flu, including fever, cough, and shortness of breath. This means that for younger, healthy individuals, COVID-19 will not usually pose a significant risk. However, for older or immunocompromised individuals, COVID-19 can be fatal, which is one of the reasons why it is such a pressing health issue. Another factor important when considering the spread of infection is its relatively long incubation period. According to the CDC, an infected individual may not develop symptoms until 14 days after they initially contracted the infection, meaning that that individual could have been unknowingly spreading the virus for up to 2 weeks. While this infected individual will most likely develop a mild infection and will make a full recovery, they could have easily given it to someone that will not have the immune capacity to defend against the virus. This is one of the main reasons why so many preventative measures are being taken against COVID-19.
The main initiatives being taken to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus are geared towards promoting social distancing. This means that it is recommended for individuals to remain at least 6 feet away from each other at all times. COVID-19 is spread through direct contact and droplet transmission, meaning that when individuals maintain this social distancing, the spread of infection greatly reduces. However, as these efforts are intended to slow the spread of infection, it will take a longer period of time for the virus to circulate out of the public population. This idea of social distancing is not to reduce the overall number of people who get infected, alternatively, it is to keep the number of infected individuals at a manageable rate. In countries where social distancing practices were not implemented in a quick enough manner or were not effective enough, hospitalization rates quickly increased past the capacity level. Healthcare workers ran out of supplies and did not have enough equipment for infected individuals, meaning that the fatality rate of patients would increase. Already in the US, shortages of personal protective equipment, ventilators, and important drugs have been reported. This is incredibly scary to think about, as the US has not even reached the peak of the virus, which is why “flattening the curve” is so important.
Another reason why flattening the curve and social distancing is so important is that there is currently not an effective treatment for COVID-19. When patients are hospitalized for the coronavirus, treatment includes strategies to help relieve the symptoms of the infection. This might include drinking fluids, taking pain relievers, or the use of ventilators to help patients breathe. There is currently no antiviral medication recommended for use for the coronavirus. However, researchers might have a promising antiviral medication in the works. The drug remdesivir was created during the Ebola pandemic; however, it was never approved by the FDA because it was deemed to be less effective than other antiviral medications available. When researchers began testing for medications effective against the coronavirus, they noticed that remdesivir helped to mitigate the symptoms of coronavirus in multiple lab studies. Researchers are now undergoing clinical trials to test if the medication is just as effective in humans. However, it is still unclear when, or if at all, the drug will be approved for the treatment of COVID-19.
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