Dr. Luciana Borio (LB) Randy Larsen (RL) May 4, 2020
Part 1 – Testing for COVID-19
RL We’re very happy to have with us, Dr. Luciana Borio, a vice president at In-Q-Tel. She previously served as the Director of Medical and Biodefense Preparedness Policy at the National Security Council in the White House. Prior to that, she was the acting Chief Scientist at the Food and Drug Administration.
And in the spirit of full disclosure, I should say that Dr. Borio and I have been good friends and professional colleagues for 20 years. Dr. Borio it is a pleasure to have you join us today.
LB My pleasure to be here Randy.
RL Dr. Borio, can you tell us why is it taking us so long to develop diagnostic tests for COVID-19?
Dr. Luciana Borio (LB) Randy Larsen (RL) May 4, 2020
Part 2 – Vaccines for COVID-19
RL I’ve been hearing people say we can have a vaccine within a year to 18 months, but others are not so optimistic. What is your prediction?
LB Well … we’ve never developed a vaccine from start to finish in 18 months. It’s certainly going to take a concerted effort by major pharmaceutical companies. But it is worth remembering that the science of vaccine development has progressed a lot in the last decade. All of the candidates that are in development right now are the result of years and years of funding and support for biomedical research.
Dr. Luciana Borio (LB) Randy Larsen (RL) May 4, 2020
Part 3 – Therapeutics for COVID-19
RL So one last topic for today … therapeutics … and I think that you will agree with me .. I’ve been telling people that we will have a therapeutic … maybe more than one effective and safe therapeutic long before we have a vaccine. Do you agree with that?
LB I do. As of last week, we have an effective therapy for COVID-19, one that has been established to benefit patients with advanced (or serious) COVID-19. It is called Remdesivir, it is produced by Gilead, and it received an Emergency Use Authorization by the FDA.
There are many types of N-95 masks available, but do not use one with an exhalation valve during this pandemic. For those of us not in a medical setting, but just wanting to help prevent the further spread of COVID-19 while in public, particularly as some states ease up on stay-at-home orders, a face covering is a very important public health procedure when outside your home.
The purpose is not so much to protect the person wearing a mask or scarf, but to prevent the wearer, who may be infected with COVID-19 but have no symptoms, from spreading the disease. And it does not require a cough or sneeze to spread the virus—talking or just breathing may be sufficient to infect others in close proximity.
The N-95 mask with exhalation valve was designed only for industrial use and never authorized for use in a medical setting . It does a great job preventing small particles from entering the masks, but a really bad job of preventing particles from exiting the masks.
UPDATE: On May 2nd, two reporters on ABC World News Tonight wore N-95 masks with exhalation valves while one wore an N-95 mask more suited to prevent the spread of the virus:
Wrong N-95 Mask = Exhalation Valve = Might not protect others if wearer is infected.Wrong N-95 Mask = Exhalation Valve = Might not protect others if wearer is infected.Right N-95 Mask = No Exhalation Valve = Can protect others if wearer is infected.
Nearly every day we hear or read new information about when we will have a vaccine for COVID-19. This is one of the most informative articles I have read and one doesn’t need to have a PhD in immunology to understand it.
“The food supply chain is breaking,” wrote board Chairman John Tyson in a full-page advertisement published Sunday in The New York Times, Washington Post and Arkansas Democrat- Gazette. Anyone visiting a grocery store already has figured this out. Tyson Foods is also warning that “millions of pounds of meat” will disappear from the supply chain as the corona virus pandemic pushes food processing plants to close, leading to product shortages in grocery stores across the country.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO RUN TO GROCERY STORE TODAY. THE SHELVES WILL NOT BECOME BARREN, but your selections will become limited and hundreds of thousands of hogs and chickens will be culled and buried while tens of thousands of Americans are lined up in front of food banks that are challenged to keep up with the demand.
Few things are more important for a healthy democracy than elections. This November will be the first national election during a pandemic in more than 100 years. And please don’t think there won’t be a pandemic in November. Trust me. There will not be an effective vaccine in November, so there will be a pandemic. Therefore, the time to prepare is now—we can’t afford to kick this can down the road. But who do we look to provide us a safe and effective means of voting during a pandemic?
Today, many Americans are having difficulty looking past the next week’s challenges: the rent or mortgage payment, car payments, utility bills, credit card bills, food bills—particularly challenging for the 26 million who have lost their jobs because of the pandemic.
Our national, state and local government leaders are understandably focused on responding to the daily demands of pandemic response—providing the safest possible environment against the threats of an invisible enemy while also trying to build plans for restarting the economy and getting people back to work.
So who is responsible for ensuring we have a safe and effective means for conducting a national election during a deadly pandemic? You are–particularly if you live in one of the 17 states listed below.
I know I do. Watching all the talking heads on TV and reading all the articles is confusing and overwhelming. I recommend you read this report by Dr. Gigi Kwik Gronvall from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security to help answer your questions…
The recent name-calling regarding COVID-19 (Wuhan virus, Chinese virus, or Kung Flu) is hardly without precedent, but certainly not helpful for preventing the next pandemic.
History provides us with many examples of nations attempting to shift blame for disease problems. Although the 14th Century Black Death, or Black Plague’s Yersinia Pestis bacterium most likely moved westward from Asia to Europe along the Silk Road, it never acquired a geographic name. Perhaps the earliest disease to become the cause of international blame-shifting, took place in the 15th and 16th centuries, when many countries tried to assign responsibility for one particular disease to other countries.
