How the COVID-19 Pandemic Could End

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April 28, 2020

Dear Reader, Although there is very little data backing the idea that hydroxychloroquine works against coronavirus infection, the fervor surrounding it has created drug shortages. According to researchers, the surge in demand has also affected enrollment in studies for other potential treatments and could complicate their interpretation of results. Today's top story explores how a combination of social-control measures, medications and a vaccine could end the pandemic. The rest of our roundup features more of the latest news and updates on the COVID-19 crisis.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Public Health How the COVID-19 Pandemic Could End Recent epidemics provide clues to ways the current crisis could stop By Lydia Denworth

Public Health Comparing COVID-19 Deaths to Flu Deaths Is like Comparing Apples to Oranges The former are actual numbers; the latter are inflated statistical estimates By Jeremy Samuel Faust

'Spider-Man' Immune Response May Promote Severe COVID-19 Clinical trials have begun to test drugs that counter toxic molecular webs linked to lung distress By Esther Landhuis

Chloroquine Hype Is Derailing the Search for Coronavirus Treatments With politicians touting the potential benefits of malaria drugs to fight COVID-19, some people are turning away from clinical trials of other therapies By Heidi Ledford,Nature magazine

Policy & Ethics Beware of Antibody-based COVID-19 "Immunity Passports" Dozens of tests with unknown accuracy have flooded the U.S. thanks to a move by the FDA that loosened restrictions By Jayakrishna Ambati,Balamurali Ambati,Benjamin Fowler

The Coronavirus Pandemic Puts Children at Risk of Online Sexual Exploitation One conversation could keep your kids safe By Jack Turban

The Science behind How Coronavirus Tests Work Technologies such as PCR, serological assays and rapid diagnostics help us understand the spread of COVID-19. But how do they do so? By Jeffery DelViscio

COVID-19: What the Autopsies Reveal Pathologists are starting to get a closer look at the damage that COVID-19 does to the body by carefully examining the internal organs of people who have died from the novel coronavirus. By W. Wayt Gibbs,Steve Mirsky

Behavior & Society Will Americans Be Willing to Install COVID-19 Tracking Apps? Many would, but it depends on what organizations are distributing them By Eszter Hargittai,Elissa Redmiles

FROM THE STORE The Secrets of Consciousness Consciousness is more than mere awareness. It's how we experience the world, how we turn input into experience. Once the province of philosophy, religion or perhaps fantasy, neuroscientists have added a scientific voice to the discussion, using available medical technology to explore just what separates so-called "mind" from brain. In this eBook, we look at what science has to say about one of humankind's most fundamental, existential mysteries.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY "The question of how the pandemic plays out is at least 50 percent social and political." Sarah Cobey, epidemiologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Chicago

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