An ongoing dialogue on HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases,
April 27th, 2020
Leaked Remdesivir Study Information, Tocilizumab and Sarilumab Trials, and the Hazards of Early COVID-19 Research Findings
In the podcast I did with Helen Branswell — Infectious Diseases and global health reporter for STAT — she mentioned that the flow of scientific information for the COVID-19 pandemic made the commonly cited “drinking from a fire hose” analogy somehow inadequate. Since she’s from Canada, I offered Niagara Falls as an alternative, to which […]
April 19th, 2020
Gratitude Before, During, and After Rounding on COVID-19 Service
It snowed in Boston yesterday morning — heavy, wet flakes covered the daffodils and tulips that just started coming up — but this brief return to winter didn’t make my red, itchy eyes from spring pollen feel any better. The flowers didn’t look too happy either. Oh well. But just as the annual misery of […]
April 12th, 2020
IDSA’s COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Highlight Difficulty of “Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There”
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) gathered a series of experts for what were undoubtedly many late-night calls, reviews of published and pre-print literature, and revisions (of revisions), and admirably generated a set of treatment guidelines for COVID-19. The problem — there is no proven effective treatment for COVID-19. That is, there’s no proven […]
April 6th, 2020
Dear Nation — A Series of Apologies on COVID-19
(What I’m sincerely hoping we’ll be hearing in an upcoming press conference, and soon.) Dear Fellow Americans, I’d like to take a brief moment in today’s press briefing to say something that is long overdue. I’m sorry. In a moment, I’ll cite the specifics of what I’ll be apologizing about. But first, I want to […]
Paul E. Sax, MD
Associate Editor
NEJM Clinician
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