John James, formerly the publisher of AIDS Treatment News, the most respected consumer driven newsletter about HIV treatment for over 30 years, has created a newsletter about COVID treatment.
Mission Statement
To provide useful, up to date information on COVID-19 treatment and research, especially (1) early treatment to prevent hospitalization or death, and (2) Long Covid research and treatment possibilities.
We believe these two areas most need attention now. (Vaccines are at least as important, but they are getting lots of attention already.)
So we respect and report mainstream science. But ideal randomized trials are seldom done because of the expense, and emergency decisions must be made now. Refusal to decide is a decision, often with predictable and unfortunate results.
Life has evolved for more than a billion years to make choices under uncertainty, balancing risks and benefits – rather than doing nothing until near-certainty becomes available. This is how people make almost all personal decisions today, and how doctors make decisions in practice. Especially in case of a pandemic or other emergency, medicine needs organized, rational thinking for using imperfect information – instead of waiting for definitive clinical trials that may never be done.
Patients and doctors must make these decisions. It is not OK for the system to impose an automatic “No.”