Covid-19: Why we must temper urgency with diligence

Abstract

The Recovery trial, so impressively established in the very first days of the pandemic,1 has given us one remarkable positive finding: that a cheap and widely available drug, dexamethasone, reduces mortality in critically ill patients 2 Apart from this, and some emerging evidence of benefit from monoclonal antibodies, trials have almost all given existing drugs the thumbs down 34 In response to the science, most countries have seen these drugs falling out of use for covid-19 5 But not so in India Equally important are non-medical interventions: supportive and nursing care, and delaying ventilation 3 Nor should we forget the need for physical and mental rehabilitation for people who survive12 and for long term and substantial investment in primary care 1314 The pandemic has brought other tools into sharp relief: quality improvement15 and clinical guidelines Use of repurposed and adjuvant drugs in hospital patients with covid-19: multinational network cohort study