The Pandemic Doesn’t Have to Be This Confusing - The Atlantic
▻https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/04/pandemic-confusing-uncertainty/610819
Past coronavirus epidemics offer limited clues because they were so contained: Worldwide, only 10,600 or so people were ever diagnosed with SARS or MERS combined, which is less than the number of COVID-19 cases from Staten Island. “For new diseases, we don’t see 100 to 200 patients a week; it usually takes a whole career,” says Megan Coffee, an infectious-disease doctor at NYU Langone Health. And “if you see enough cases of other diseases, you’ll see unusual things.” During the flu pandemic of 2009, for example, doctors also documented heart, kidney, and neurological problems. “Is #COVID-19 fundamentally different to other diseases, or is it just that you have a lot of cases at once?” asks Vinay Prasad, a hematologist and an oncologist at Oregon Health and Science University.
Prasad’s concern is that COVID-19 has developed a clinical mystique—a perception that it is so unusual, it demands radically new approaches. “Human beings are notorious for our desire to see patterns,” he says. “Put that in a situation of fear, uncertainty, and hype, and it’s not surprising that there’s almost a folk medicine emerging.” Already, there are intense debates about giving patients blood thinners because so many seem to experience blood clots, or whether ventilators might do more harm than good. These issues may be important, and when facing new diseases, doctors must be responsive and creative. But they must also be rigorous. “Clinicians are under tremendous stress, which affects our ability to process information,” McLaren says. “‘Is this actually working, or does it seem to be working because I want it to work and I feel powerless?’”