Prognosis: Breakthrough

The coronavirus has swept through South Africa. But the country was already carrying a heavy burden of chronic and infectious diseases. Its healthcare system is fragile. Johannesburg-based reporter Janice Kew explains what happened when the country went into a strict lockdown to prevent the spread of Covid-19 from overwhelming its medical facilities.

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This weekend, Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, attracted criticism when he substantially overstated the benefits of an experimental Covid-19 therapy. At a press conference with Trump, Hahn said that a treatment using blood plasma from recovered patients could save 35 of every 100 people who would have died. Those high-profile remarks were incorrect, and they were repeated by others in the Trump administration. Hahn late Monday clarified some of what the data on blood plasma actually show.

But the episode has raised questions about how the agency will review a vaccine, as well as its scientific independence. Senior Editor for Health Care Drew Armstrong spoke to Hahn about the agency’s role in an increasingly politicized federal virus response.

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President Donald Trump expanded access to a coronavirus treatment that involves blood plasma donated by people who’ve recovered from Covid-19. But while convalescent plasma, as it’s known, is a promising therapy, researchers don’t yet fully understand how well it works. Michelle Fay Cortez explains what the announcement means, and the concerns that agencies like the FDA are letting pressure from the White House, rather than science, guide their decisions.

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One thing the pandemic seems to have rendered obsolete, at least for now, is mass tourism. Beach towns lined with hotels that boast hundreds of rooms are struggling in a socially distanced age. Jeannette Neumann reports one tourist hotspot in Spain that once drew throngs of young people is trying to reinvent itself for a future of tightly controlled and intimate trips.

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Before the novel coronavirus, the world was focused on another killer respiratory virus: influenza.The flu kills hundreds of thousands of people globally each year. The Covid-19 pandemic hit the U.S. after flu cases had peaked. But with the next flu season only a couple of months away, doctors are worried that a flu epidemic on top of a Covid pandemic could stretch medical resources to the breaking point. Jason Gale reports that countries like Australia and New Zealand can be a model for dealing with the flu.

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About a dozen student athletes have experienced heart inflammation after being diagnosed with the disease. The NCAA’s chief medical officer discussed the cases of myocarditis, a heart condition that can cause sudden death in young athletes, at a briefing last week. His remarks came two days after the Big Ten and Pac-12 announced they would postpone fall sports. Angelica LaVito reports that the new complication is casting a shadow over college athletics, and creating questions about what the disease does to young people.

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In the fight against COVID-19, so many are pinning their hopes on a vaccine. But how long will it take? Russia’s super-fast-tracked COVID-19 one is technically the first in the world. But the first vaccine may not be the best one. And even with other vaccine trials underway around the globe, it would be wrong to think we can resume normal life as soon as we have one. Bloomberg healthcare reporter Michelle Fay Cortez explains why Russia’s approach to vaccine development is so different, and why the world may be expecting way too much from an inoculation.

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In the rush to develop a vaccine or treatment for Covid-19, drug companies are fast-tracking clinical trials. But those trials have a major diversity problem. Participants in major drug trials range from 70 percent to 89 percent white. This is a big problem, considering it’s a disease that disproportionately affects people of color. Kristen V. Brown reports that failing to account for minority groups could potentially impact how well a drug eventually works for those that the virus has harmed the most.

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Arne Duncan, the former US secretary of education, recently warned a House panel against opening schools prematurely. He’s one of a growing chorus of voices sounding the alarm about opening schools without properly funding safety measures. The schools, they say, simply don’t have the money they need to make their buildings safe for students and teachers. At that same house panel, witnesses said public schools would need $200 billion in federal aid to open safely with the virus continuing to circulate. Skylar Woodhouse reports on costs, and challenges, of creating safe classrooms.

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The coronavirus has been spreading worldwide for over seven months now, and more than 18 million people are known to have been infected by it. Over that time, we’ve come to understand that, in most people, the virus causes mild symptoms or none at all -- at least at the time they have the virus. But even asymptomatic patients may suffer lingering effects. Jason Gale reports that it may contribute to the pandemic’s significant, long-term social and economic costs.

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