Viewpoints: Pros, Cons On FDA Approval Of Unproven Drugs For Treatment; States’ Patchwork Response Undermines Recovery
Opinion writers weigh in on these COVID-19 topics and others.
The Wall Street Journal:
An FDA Breakthrough On Treatment
The Food and Drug Administration on Sunday green-lighted two malaria medicines that have shown some promise treating the novel coronavirus, and the emergency approvals couldn’t come soon enough. Expanding their use could bring quicker relief to patients and hospitals while allowing scientists to better assess their efficacy. The malaria drugs hydroxychloroquine (HC) and chloroquine have been around for more than five decades, so their safety is well documented. New evidence suggests that they could also help fight the novel coronavirus, as op-eds by Dr. Jeff Colyer on these pages have reported. Both chloroquine and HC in vitro block the replication of RNA viruses like the novel coronavirus. (3/30)
Stat:
We Shouldn't Rush To Use An Unproven Drug To Treat The Coronavirus
As the pandemic deepens, physicians face an agonizing decision — to medicate or not to medicate?Here’s the dilemma: Over the past few weeks, some small studies suggested a decades-old malaria drug called hydroxychloroquine may have the potential to combat the novel coronavirus known as Covid-19. And as the results trickled out, the tablet has become more valuable than gold. (Ed Silverman, 3/31)
The Washington Post:
Trump Rightly Extended Pandemic Guidance. Here’s What He Should Do Next.
President Trump abandoned his reckless speculation about going back to work by Easter and wisely extended the federal government’s pandemic guidance through April. Mr. Trump properly announced this unpleasant news personally on Sunday and acknowledged much higher estimates of the possible death toll. Since December, too much time has been squandered. Now, the month ahead must be well spent — with action. (3/30)
Bloomberg:
Coronavirus: Abbott's Five-Minute Tests Aid Every Stage Of Fight
Americans anxious about their coronavirus status and ability to get tested got excellent news over the weekend. On Saturday, medical-device giant Abbott Laboratories said it got the green light from the Food and Drug Administration to roll out a new rapid and portable Covid-19 test. It’s going to start doing so this week.Abbott's test can detect the virus in as little as five minutes and runs on a 6.6-pound machine that is already set up in doctors offices around the country to test for strep throat and flu. (Max Nisen, 3/30)
The Washington Post:
Five Ways The Federal Government Can Help Health-Care Professionals Get Critical Gear
The coronavirus pandemic is a generational event. Much as our firefighters, paramedics and police officers ran toward the flames on 9/11 while crowds ran away from the twin towers, today our nurses, doctors and first responders are running toward the crisis. As most Americans shelter at home, our health-care workers are on the front lines — and too many are heading into battle without proper gear. (Rep. Elissa Slotkin, 3/30)
Los Angeles Times:
Trump's Daily Coronavirus Press Conferences Are Dangerous
On Sunday, President Trump, absent any hard evidence, suggested that large numbers of masks were being stolen from New York hospitals, citing an unnamed facility he said had seen a huge surge in mask usage. “How do you go from 10 to 20 [thousand masks being used], to 300,000?” he said. And he didn’t stop there. “Where are the masks going — are they going out the back door?” Trump posited. “Somebody should probably look into that, because I just don’t see from a practical standpoint how that’s possible.” Perhaps — just perhaps — the increased volume of masks being used is correlated with the emergence of a runaway, highly contagious pandemic? I wonder if Joseph Stalin ever said during the Battle of Stalingrad: “This doesn’t make sense. Normally they only want 20,000 boxes of ammunition. All of sudden they want 300,000? Someone must be stealing the bullets.” (Jonah Goldberg, 3/30)
The Hill:
We Need A 'Pay Everything' Policy To Combat Coronavirus Recession
The effect of the COVID-19 crisis on the economy differs from recessions of the past, and the tools familiar to policymakers are not designed to address our current situation. For example, cutting interest rates works in most recessions by reducing the cost of new consumer loans. But who needs a loan when people are forced to stay at home, unable to, say, shop for a car or a home? (David Souder, 3/29)
Los Angeles Times:
Stop Detaining Migrant Children During The Coronavirus Pandemic
A federal judge in Los Angeles, concerned that migrant children being held in federal detention are facing dangerous exposure to the coronavirus, ordered the Trump administration on Saturday to speed up the release of minors to relatives or other qualified sponsors. U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee stopped short of ordering the children’s immediate release because of the need to find appropriate places for them to go and the logistical challenges posed by travel advisories related to the public-health crisis. Given the practical realities, Gee seems to have gone as far as she could. The government currently holds about 3,600 unaccompanied minors in shelters overseen by the Office of Refugee Resettlement and about 3,300 children with parents at facilities operated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Four unaccompanied minors held at a detention facility in New York have tested positive for the virus, and at least one child in a family detention center is under quarantine. (3/31)
Los Angeles Times:
Economists Warn Against Lifting The Coronavirus Lockdowns
Until now, the voices warning against prematurely lifting stringent social regulations to combat the novel coronavirus have been those of doctors and epidemiologists. But a blue-ribbon group of economists has just weighed in, and they agree -- virtually unanimously. The panel of 44 economists assembled by the Booth School of Business of the University of Chicago was asked to opine on coronavirus policy in three respects. (Michael Hiltzik, 3/30)
Modern Healthcare:
Some Optimism For The Post-COVID Healthcare System
COVID-19 has taught us two things. We need intensive-care units and a surge capacity for crises. But we also need to help people at home. (Stephen K. Klasko, 3/30)
The Hill:
Conservatives Privilege Ideology Over Expertise In This Global Health Crisis
I was deeply troubled by Father Frank Pavone’s attack on the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) in The Hill. Pavone seeks to discredit ACOG’s medical expertise by suggesting that the body, along with its 60,000 board-certified obstetrician-gynecologists members, cannot simultaneously support abortion access, a key component of women’s reproductive health, and also be an “a dispassionate observer of abortion policy.” This is yet another example of conservatives privileging ideology over expertise in the midst of a global health crisis. (Sara Hutchinson Ratcliffe, 3/30)
Detroit Free Press:
How To Protect Elections, Other Democratic Institutions Against Virus
Stay home! the public health guardians counsel. Avoid congregating in groups! But more than 300 federal lawmakers violated that cardinal prescription last week in order to get a $2-trillion coronavirus relief bill to President Donald Trump's desk, because the U.S. Constitution bars both the Senate and the House of Representatives from adopting legislation without at least half its members physically present. Closer to home, Michigan legislators, one of whom is already sick with COVID-19, have decided to meet just one day a week for the next month. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has suspended some provisions of the state's Open Meetings Act, which in normal times requires county commissions, city councils and school boards to do business in public. (3/30)
The Detroit News:
Don't Neglect Prisoners During Pandemic
Understanding the epidemiology of the coronavirus is important. But it is equally important to ask these challenging questions: Who is disproportionally affected by the pandemic and how must we, as a collective, support vulnerable populations at this time? A vulnerable group we cannot afford to disregard is the incarcerated population. If we ignore the them, jails and prisons will become an epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Ira Memaj and Robert Fullilove, 3/30)
New Orleans Times-Picayune:
Arrest Those With Louisiana Coronavirus Foolishness. 'Stupid' Should Stop.
So much for returning to normal come Easter Sunday or even Easter Monday. At least it’s not likely in Louisiana. "As you know, my stay at home order is scheduled to end on April 13," Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Sunday afternoon during a joint news conference with New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell. "I do want people to know that based on facts on the ground as we get close to that date we will determine whether to extend that date." The novel coronavirus spreading across the world is once again showing that science trumps politics, the economy and elected officials and the facts are as they exist. (Will Sutton, 3/30)
