Viewpoints: Big Pharma Needs To Hit Its Stride On A Vaccine, Treatments; Lessons On The Lysol Moment

Stat: Big Pharma Could Boost Its Reputation With Its Covid-19 Response 
President Trump, a known critic of Big Pharma, summoned 10 executives from various pharmaceutical companies to the White House in early March to discuss the coronavirus pandemic. He wanted the industry’s help in creating a vaccine to prevent the disease and therapies to fight it at a time when neither existed. Trump’s behavior mimics that of most Americans. In times of medical crisis, we turn to those who can design, develop, and manufacture new medicines and ask, “What can Big Pharma discover to help save lives?” (John Lamattina, 4/30)

The New York Times: How Long Will A Vaccine Really Take?
A vaccine would be the ultimate weapon against the coronavirus and the best route back to normal life. Officials like Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the top infectious disease expert on the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, estimate a vaccine could arrive in at least 12 to 18 months. The grim truth behind this rosy forecast is that a vaccine probably won’t arrive any time soon. Clinical trials almost never succeed. We’ve never released a coronavirus vaccine for humans before. Our record for developing an entirely new vaccine is at least four years — more time than the public or the economy can tolerate social-distancing orders. (Stuart A. Thompson, 4/30)

The Wall Street Journal: That Trump Lysol Moment
The 2020 election may have been decided the moment the makers of Lysol felt obliged to issue a statement disavowing an incumbent president who offhandedly said something about using disinfectant internally to kill coronavirus. That will be one for the history books. Setting aside the political damage, what’s unfortunate is that President Trump throughout has been trying valiantly if often clumsily, as the saying goes, to “do something, anything” in the battle with coronavirus. But of course even amid a nationwide catastrophe we have to endure the repellent, unending war between the media and its Trump white whale. (Daniel Henninger, 4/29)

Los Angeles Times: Seven Ways The AIDS Epidemic Prepared Me For COVID-19 
This thing is not over. COVID-19 hospitalizations, deaths and surges will continue. It will be months to years before a vaccine or herd immunity makes us free to jostle in line at a restaurant or sit shoulder-to-shoulder at a funeral, concert hall, bar, synagogue, sports arena or AA meeting. Given we’re in for the long haul, I found myself remembering how gay people responded to the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s. I was a reporter in San Francisco then, and lessons I learned apply today. (Katy Butler, 4/30)

Politico: Admit It: You Are Willing To Let People Die To End The Shutdown
CNN’s Jake Tapper was brutally direct in his question to Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who recently lifted his state’s stay-at-home order, in favor of a gradual reopening of business. Are you worried, Tapper asked, that a premature move could “cost your constituents their lives?” Polis was blandly indirect in his answer. While he might wish to have “next week’s information and next month’s information available to me today,” the Democratic governor said, “that’s not the world we live in.” During a pandemic that likely will continue for months, he’s looking for a path forward in “an ongoing sustainable way,” one that takes into account citizens’ interests “psychologically, economically, and from a health perspective.” (John F. Harris, 4/30)

The Washington Post: Soon All Of Us Will Be In The Same Position As Georgia 
Georgia recently began the slow process of reopening its economy, permitting people to dine in restaurants, get a haircut, go to the gym or, bizarrely, get a tattoo. Other states are set to join them. Texas, for example, is also beginning the slow process of coming out of economic deep freeze on Friday, May 1. Many infectious disease experts are aghast, while a few are supporting the move. Covid-19, a disease unknown a mere six months ago, has taken the lives of almost 60,000 people in the United States and sickened at least a million more. Yet it seems increasingly certain many of us will be in the same position as the residents of Georgia within the next few weeks or months. (Helaine Olen, 4/29)

Los Angeles Times: McConnell Promotes Coronavirus Business Liability Protection
It may not be an official recession yet — technically, the economy has to contract for two consecutive quarters to qualify for that designation. But we’re undoubtedly in the early stages of one, as the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis signaled Wednesday when it estimated that GDP fell sharply in the first quarter of 2020. It was the biggest quarterly decrease since the crippling 2008-09 recession, and yet it pales in comparison with the epic 37% decrease that IHS Markit projects for the quarter we’re now slogging through. Maybe that helps explain why so many states are starting to lift their coronavirus stay-at-home orders even though they don’t have the capacity to test workers for the virus or trace contacts on a mass scale. (John Healey, 4/29)

The Washington Post: The Class War Against Front-Line Workers
We talk incessantly about our appreciation for front-line workers in retail, delivery, food-processing and other sectors who allow the rest of us to live our socially distanced lives. Then we slap them in the face.Item One: President Trump, who has largely declined to use his power under the Defense Production Act for needed medical and protective equipment, used that same power on Tuesday night to force meat processors to remain open. (E.J. Dionne, 4/29)

The Hill: We Don't Know How Best To Reopen The Country, But We Have A Playbook 
The primary strategy to stem the tide of the COVID-19 pandemic across the country has been the implementation of strict social distancing measures to avoid overwhelming hospitals and causing unimaginable mortality. Now, as data is accumulating that social distancing is reducing new cases, attention is turning to reopen the economy while minimizing the chances of reigniting uncontrolled viral spread. (Richard Sherwood and Mandana Arbab, 4/29)

Bloomberg: What Covid-19's Second Wave Could Look Like
The world is beginning to loosen restrictions that have been put in place to limit the spread of Covid-19. Leaders of countries, states and cities are finding they have little choice but to return to economic activity well before an effective vaccine or treatment for the disease is available. This means secondary outbreaks are a near certainty. What’s uncertain is how devastating future surges of infection will be. If they’re sporadic and kept under control, death rates will stay low, and life may inch back toward normalcy. If they’re large, countries and regions may need to dive back into shutdown mode, extending the pandemic’s economic damage. (Max Nisen, 4/29)

The Hill: Until There's A Cure Social Distancing Will Have To Continue
We have done what was necessary. We stayed at home as much as possible. We have kept a distance from people outside of our household. All to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. (Benjamin Van Rooij, 4/29)

New England Journal of Medicine: Loosening Covid-19 Restrictions
The rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus that emerged in late 2019, and the resulting Covid-19 disease has been labeled a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization. What physicians need to know about transmission, diagnosis, and treatment is the subject of ongoing updates from infectious disease experts at the Journal. In this audio interview conducted on April 29, 2020, the editors discuss strategies to limit transmission of SARS-CoV-2 as restrictions are loosened and economies restart around the world. (Eric J. Rubin, Lindsey R. Baden and Stephen Morrissey, 4/30)

The Hill: Collecting And Reporting Ethnicity Stats On COVID-19 Matters For The Health Of Everyone 
The Equitable Data Collection and Disclosure on COVID-19 Act, which requires the federal government to include race and ethnicity among demographic data collected and released about COVID-19 is not partisan. It is not biased. And it is not relevant only to the slice of American citizenry with brown and black skin who are dying disproportionately in this country from the virus. It matters to the health and welfare of everyone. (Dr. James E.K. Hildreth, 4/29)

Boston Globe: Impossible Coronavirus Decisions And The Price Tag On Human Life 
We are now beginning to face another urgent question: When does increasing the risk of preventable death become “worth it” to save the economy? Regulatory agencies regularly perform this kind of cost-benefit analysis, such as when deciding acceptable levels of arsenic in the water or safety requirements in our cars. But the COVID-19 pandemic is fraught with uncertainties and far-reaching implications — significantly greater in complexity and potential impact than the typical situations faced by regulatory agencies. (Howard Friedman, 4/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Trump Can’t Postpone The Election 
‘'Mark my words, I think he is going to try to kick back the election somehow,” Joe Biden recently said of President Trump during an online fundraiser. To “try” is one thing. But there are constitutional and legal reasons why a president can’t delay a federal election or extend his term of office, which should dispel any worries. Start with the text of the Constitution. The 20th Amendment is exceedingly clear: “The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January.” There’s no clause that allows presidents to remain in office beyond Jan. 20 or to invoke some emergency power to extend a term of office. (Derek T. Muller, 4/29)

NBC News: Trump Forcing West Point Graduates To Risk Coronavirus For His Ego Disrespects Their Work
President Donald Trump announced two weeks ago that the annual commencement ceremonies at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point would proceed as normal and that he would speak in-person to this year’s 1,000 graduating class — much to the surprise of academy officials, who had been carefully planning how to restructure the milestone for cadets without putting anyone at risk for COVID-19. So now, instead of delaying the iconic ceremony or conducting it virtually, the commander in chief is putting 1,000 cadets, an untold number of military personnel and civilians, and perhaps the cadets’ families at risk in order to give a speech. (Charlotte Clymer, 4/29)