Coronavirus Reads, Digest 12
India to allow export of anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, while UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is in the ICU.
It’s Tuesday, April 7th.
India news
As India’s coronavirus infections get closer to 5,000, the Indian government considers extending the lockdown past April 14 in consultation with state governments.
India will allow export of hydroxychloroquine to “some nations badly affected by COVID-19,”; President Trump had threatened “retaliation” if this was not made possible. India is the world’s main supplier of generic drugs, and the Indian pharmaceutical company Cipla famously made HIV antiretroviral drugs affordable, especially for many African countries in the early 2000s.
President Trump keeps pushing this anti-malaria drug in White House press conferences despite a lack of clinical trials and adverse side effects for those with underlying conditions. Interestingly, the NYTimes reports that "Mr. Trump himself has a small personal financial interest in Sanofi, the French drugmaker that makes Plaquenil, the brand-name version of hydroxychloroquine." But what do we actually know about the drug and COVID-19 treatment? This piece in the Atlantic by James Hamblin explains.
Delhi to ramp up testing? The capital’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal says Delhi will increase its rapid testing to 100,000 people.
But there’s been a lack of transparency and clarity from the central Indian government in terms of which testing kits have been approved. Supriya Sharma of Scroll explores why and how this has been holding India’s testing capabilities back.
The Nizamuddin Tablighi Jamaat congregation in March and subsequent outbreak has generated a debate. While a section of the Indian media has focused on how the gathering led to a substantial jump in India’s cases, there are others who argue that the spike in linked cases was due to focused testing on the Jamaat participants, as opposed to other large gatherings that have also taken place. Shoaib Daniyal in Scroll reports.
Is India underestimating the scale of the outbreak? According to a Financial Times report, experts say it is and remains vastly under prepared.
In Bloomberg Opinion, Andy Mukherjee argues that after the pandemic, India should invest in public health and pursue a health centered economic agenda.
Lockdown Effects
In PARI, Shraddha Agarwal reports on an Adivasi community in Maharashtra that is struggling for food during the lockdown as most of them subsist on daily wages.
'Soaps won't save us if we die of hunger first', People’s Archive of Rural India
TB and HIV+ patients continue to struggle to access healthcare and medicine supplies during the lockdown. Aarefa Johari reports, “without timely medication, both HIV and TB patients are at risk of developing drug resistance, making it harder for their medicines to work when they do get back on them.”
In fact, the LA Times reports that “across India, many hospitals have closed their outpatient departments because of an expected influx of coronavirus patients or because medical staff began to show symptoms of the disease,” leading to patients with other chronic conditions or who need intensive care being discharged.
U.S. and International
The outbreak in New York is starting to show signs of stabilizing. Governor Andrew Cuomo cautioned that social distancing must continue or the numbers could go up again. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is now in the ICU, on oxygen; he tested positive for the coronavirus 10 days ago.
Many of the NYC coronavirus patients in hospitals are young--1 in 5 hospitalizations are in people younger than 44, data from NYC’s Health department reveals. And a report from Bloomberg reveals accounts of doctors saying hospitals are threatening to fire them for speaking to the media; many have already been fired for speaking out about the lack of PPE.
This current global crisis could last for more than a few months, depending on how long it takes to develop a vaccine or preventative treatment. In the likelihood that it will go on, the world may not just bounce back, but rather the pandemic will have “severe public health, economic, and geopolitical ramifications,” and the world “will emerge profoundly changed,” writes Thomas Wright in The Atlantic.
Coping with the Pandemic
Detailed tips on how to quarantine yourself, how much to separate yourself from your family, and what to watch out for.
Economists are setting aside other research and jumping in to find ways to help in the pandemic. “Economics is not epidemiology. But the coronavirus pandemic brings steep economic challenges, affecting consumption, production and investment and employment,” writes Eduardo Porter.
52 medical students from NYU chose to graduate early to start treating coronavirus patients. Listen to them take the Hippocratic oath (on Zoom!) and read more on how they made this decision.
Side Effects of the Pandemic
And Jelani Cobb analyzes how the pandemic is intersecting with the Republicans’ long term efforts for voter suppression. How the Coronavirus Pandemic Intensifies the Fight Over Voting Rights, The New Yorker
While smaller businesses and institutions are struggling financially at this time, this profile of a local museum in Los Angeles shows what an important role they play in their communities. Robin Pogrebin writes about the Underground Museum, “one of the most important destinations for black art in the country...is trying to minister to its public by helping deliver produce, continuing its weekly meditation program via Instagram and working to create a neighborhood support program.”
America is Thirsty for Anthony Fauci. Enough said.