WTVM Editorial 10/19/21: More COVID Therapies

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - Now we can apparently add aspirin to the slowly growing list of possible therapeutics to fight COVID-19.

There’s an intriguing new study out of Israel suggesting aspirin – long known for it’s anti-inflammatory effects, might cut the duration of COVID infection by a few days.

And you may have heard that the drug-maker Merck is hoping for quick FDA approval of its new anti-viral pill.

Add to that the effectiveness of the monoclonal antibody drug Remdesivir – which is already FDA approved – and we can see further evidence of drug therapy getting much more attention.

These drugs, and others being properly prescribed like Ivermectin, all appear to lessen the severity of the disease.

In the case of the new aspirin study, researchers found that patients taking low-dose aspirin had a 29% lower risk of getting COVID, and if they did, their experience was less severe.

The COVID vaccination also is known to make the virus less severe, a reminder to get vaccinated if you can.

Meanwhile, new COVID cases in Georgia and Alabama saw a major decline this month compared to last, the same pattern that can be seen when looking at fatalities, too.

On October 15th , there were 1,905 new cases in Georgia, down more than 30% from just a month ago.

In Alabama, the new case count dropped to 787 from a month ago, another 30 plus percent improvement.

New COVID deaths in Georgia as of October 15th were down 12% and in Alabama the drop was even steeper: with deaths down 55% month to month.

And it’s worth pointing out again that COVID-19, except for the very elderly and sick, still has a low case fatality rate of 1.61% compared to the much higher death rates for other infamous respiratory diseases like SARS at 15%, and MERS at 33%.

None of this is to suggest COVID isn’t dangerous.

But as the pandemic progresses and more data becomes available, it’s important to point out that vaccines and drug therapies – that is prevention and treatment - can and should work together to keep the suffering down and the COVID deaths to a minimum.

Copyright 2021 WTVM. All rights reserved.