We Still Don ’t Know What Works Best to Slow the Spread Of COVID-19

At the start of 2020, most of the world was terrified. Faced with a novel, deadly pandemic virus, something most of us had not expected to experience in our lifetimes, and witnessing the carnage the virus reaped in Wuhan, China, and Lombardy, Italy, countries worldwide went into protection mode. To reduce viral transmission and save lives, nations implemented pandemic control policies. These included “test and trace,” isolation of infected people, quarantining of those exposed, indoor mask mandates, and closing various venues to try and reduce contact between individuals. Daily life in many countries changed drastically. Since those first, bleak days of the early pandemic, we’ve had plenty of time to reflect on the steps taken at the start of the crisis, when governments and their public health advisers were making emergency decisions armed with very little data and information on an entirely new illness. This was the era before we had developed the powerful vaccines and medicines that have transformed the outlook for COVID-19. While there is certainly evidence that these early community mitigation strategies, which scientists call “non-pharmaceutical interventions” (NPIs), reduced the spread of the virus, what might surprise you is how little effort there has been to fully assess their impact. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Because of a lack of research on NPIs, we still can’t answer important questions like: which government...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 freelance Source Type: news