![]() ![]() Physicians are testing candidate drugs in uncontrolled studies, often many at a time, and under “compassionate use” protocols that are meant to be a last resort for critically ill patients who have no other options. Administrators too have brushed away the rules that might impede this research program, signing off on testing tools without the normal vetting process. Scientists are rushing to understand the virus and its spread, and to search for ways we might treat, prevent, or control it. The inclination to trade off rigor for the sake of speed appears at every level of research. ![]() Horwitz said the implications for patient care were clear.” Preliminary findings, incomplete data, clear implications: Science! Leora Horwitz, a senior author on the study, “cautioned that the findings were preliminary,” according to a write-up in The New York Times, and “noted that some of the data was still incomplete.” Then, as if by magic, in the very next paragraph: “Dr. Consider last week’s reporting on a preprint out of New York University, suggesting a link between obesity and severity of Covid-19. ![]() In recent weeks, other deeply flawed-but also meaningful, important, quite exciting-findings about pandemic topics have made their way into the papers. “Just to see the first bit of data is quite exciting,” he said.ĭubious, yet still quite exciting: We’ve seen this play before. The research methods were “dubious,” one infectious disease expert told WIRED, but he was gladdened by the fact that research of this kind was coming out. A pair of studies based on antibody tests in California had just been written up and posted to a preprint server, the first one going up last Friday-and while the results were shaky and preliminary, they still made headline news. The results are shocking: Covid-19 infection rates have been subject to a “ vast undercount,” by a factor of 50 or more. ![]()
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