Not all news about COVID-19 is bad - Part 2

As a not-so-regular blogger, I was delighted to see >1000 views/reads of my post from last week - Not all news about COVID-19 is bad: as a data scientist, here is what you can do to help. This has inspired me to write another post on reliable good news backed by data-driven science regarding COVID-19 in a simple language that anyone interested can understand.

Amidst all the dire reports that focus on worst case scenarios, people are coming together (mostly virtually or following distancing guidelines) to do many amazing things during these strange times. The following good news caught my attention and I wish to share them here:

1. Remdesivir is working in patients with severe COVID-19. Remdesivir is an anti-viral drug

   

   Exhibit 1. Clinical improvements were seen in all age groups in the study

   developed by Gilead Sciences that is showing benefits in patients with severe COVID-19. In a recent study published in the highly-reputed New England Journal of Medicine, 68% of patients with severe COVID-19 in this small cohort of 61 patients showed clinical improvement. I found the figure in Exhibit 1 to be most informative in this paper which showed clinical improvement across all age groups of COVID-19 patients. Many of these patients who were on mechanical ventilation support were able to regain breathing on their own. Treating clinicians can request access to this drug directly from Gilead through this expanded access for compassionate use program. 

Exhibit 2: Dr. Anthony Fauci,

Director, NIAID
Source – The New Yorker

2. Social distancing could reduce COVID-19 death toll. We are fortunate to have Dr. Fauci, a leading expert in infectious diseases and the head of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health in the United States be the scientific face of the COVID-19 pandemic through daily White House daily briefings on COVID-19. He said that based on current data in the US, we are having a definite positive effect of social distancing and he downgraded the death toll in the US to about 60,000 people from the original estimate of 100,000 to 200,000. You can read more about the amazing Dr. Fauci and his leadership during this pandemic here.

3. Carbon emissions are falling sharply. There is no doubt that the decrease in demand for transportation, production and electricity due to COVID-19 lockdowns around the world are causing a huge impact on the economy. But the upside is that this has resulted in lower CO₂ emissions (Exhibit 3) into our environment. CO₂ is the primary greenhouse gas making up about three-quarters of the emissions and is a major cause for climate change. In China alone, carbon emissions were down an estimated 18 percent between early February and mid-March due to decrease in coal consumption and industrial output. A Stanford University professor translated this drop in CO₂ emissions in Feb-Mar, 2020 to ~77,000 lives saved.

Exhibit 3: Satellite images from NASA showing drastic reduction on air pollution over China

4. COVID-19 test in 5 minutes. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an emergency use authorization for Abbott’s ID NOW^TM COVID-19 diagnostic test which returns results in as little as 5 minutes. Samples from throat and nasal swabs from people suspected to have the Coronavirus infection can be used in the small, lightweight (6.6 pounds), portable device to test for the presence of SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19. Abbott plans to ramp up manufacturing of this new ID NOW^TM COVID-19 test to deliver 50,000 tests per day. Because of the portable nature of this device, it can be used at point-of-care in clinics where patients are first seen.

5. COVID babies and centenarians. The OB-GYN team at our clinical partner MedStar Health recently reported that a healthy baby was born without any complications to a 34-year-old woman who had tested positive for COVID-19. All precautions were taken and guidelines were followed by the hospital staff to keep mother and baby safe. They were discharged from the hospital to their home safe and sound on day 6. In more good news on the other end of the age spectrum, a 103-year old woman in Wuhan, China was also discharged from the hospital on day 6 after receiving treatment to beat COVID-19. A salute to our hospital workers who make these miracles happen each and every day, and more so now during the COVID crisis.

6. Breast pumps as ventilators. We have been hearing about shortage of ventilators at hospitals in some global hotspots. Ventilators supply oxygen directly to the lungs of COVID-19 patients while their bodies recover from the respiratory infection. A team of engineers in Maryland set out to solve this problem by repurposing breast pumps as ventilators. This innovative team reversed the suction of the breast pump to blow out air and synchronized the timing of the air flow with the medically recommended inhale-exhale ratio to create a prototype of a ventilator that help COVID patients. As a Marylander, this makes me extra proud! This is one of many innovations that are beginning to surface to combat COVID-19. 

A few final thoughts…

While good news about COVID-19 is slowly starting to trickle in from around the world, this pandemic is far from over. We must do our part by following guidelines for social distancing and mitigation strategies so that we can get through this global crisis together. As Dr. Fauci says “We still have to put our foot on the accelerator when it comes to the mitigation and the physical separation” to reduce infections and deaths.

Want to fight COVID-19 from home? Join the Pandemic Data Room organized by the QED group, Georgetown University and other national and international partners for the data visualization challenge on international COVID-19 datasets. Challenge ends on May 3, 2020. Register now to participate and for a chance to win award money.

Have scientifically-backed good news on COVID-19 to share? Please feel free to reach me on twitter @subhamadhavan.

Together, we will beat COVID-19!