Medical Treatments

A researcher at the German Center for Immunity Therapy holds a bag containing blood plasma from a recovered COVID-19 patient at the University Hospital Erlangen on April 27, 2020 in Erlangen, Germany. This plasma could be used to treat people with COVID-1

Five Coronavirus Treatments In Development

12:05pm June 11, 2020

by Joe Palca

While only remdesivir has been scientifically shown to help treat COVID-19, it is not a particularly effective drug. More drugs like it and fundamentally different ones are in the pipeline.

Health & Safety

Researchers Are Looking Into Alternatives To Remdesivir In The Coronavirus Treatment

5:41pm June 10, 2020

by Joe Palca

There is only one drug that researchers say has been scientifically shown to help COVID-19: remdesivir. But it is not proven to reduce mortality. So, researchers keep looking for other treatments.

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People working as medics near the Colorado State Capitol on May 31, during one of Denver's many protest demonstrations in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis.

Health & Safety

'Street Medics' Fight COVID-19 And Tend To Protesters' Wounds

2:16pm June 10, 2020

by LJ Dawson

Off-duty nurses, security guards, ambulance workers and others have joined protests against racism and police brutality to work as medics. "When we see suffering, that's where we go," says one.

Cell culture operators prepare a 2000-liter single-use bioreactor to produce proteins used to make vaccines.

Vaccine Makers Hedge Bets On Which One Will Emerge As Effective And Safe

5:06am June 10, 2020

by Joe Palca

To speed vaccine production from years to months, companies must start making a vaccine in large quantities even before it's clear a vaccine works.

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Dr. Daniel Colon Hidalgo is a physician in the intensive care unit of a Chicago Hospital, where many of the COVID-19 patients he's tending are unconscious and terribly Ill from the minute he meets them.

On Dying Alone: 'Behind Every COVID-19 Case, There Is A Story'

7:00am June 06, 2020

The unconscious man was a Beatles fan, his sister said. When she couldn't be with him in his final ICU hours she asked Dr. Daniel Colón Hidalgo to play music and say the words she wanted him to hear.

Hydroxychloroquine is used to treat autoimmune diseases like lupus and is being studied for use in treating and preventing COVID-19.

Authors Retract Hydroxychloroquine Study, Citing Concern Over Data

8:06pm June 04, 2020

by Jane Greenhalgh

A paper suggesting hydroxychloroquine increases the risk of death for patients with COVID-19 has been retracted by three of its authors because they were not able to verify the data used in the study.

Health & Safety

ICU Nurse Shares Her Experience Of Working With COVID-19 Patients

4:54pm June 04, 2020

COVID-19 patients in intensive care often experience facial swelling, which makes them unrecognizable. Mackenzie, a nurse in the Pacific Northwest, explains how nurses get to know patients better.

The first patient enrolled in Pfizer's COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine clinical trial at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, receives an injection in May. Pfizer's candidate for a coronavirus vaccine is one of number that are in vario

NIH Director Hopes For At Least 1 Safe And Effective Vaccine By Year's End

5:00am June 04, 2020

by Sarah McCammon

Dr. Francis Collins says some candidates for a coronavirus vaccine will be ready to start large-scale human trials as early as next month. Scaling up production may start before tests are complete.

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President Donald Trump announced in May that he was taking hydroxychloroquine as a preventive measure against COVID-19. But a study published Wednesday finds no evidence the drug is protective in this way.

No Evidence Hydroxychloroquine Is Helpful In Preventing COVID-19, Study Finds

5:04pm June 03, 2020

by Joe Palca

A study of more than 800 health workers, first responders and others finds that taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent COVID-19 is no better than a placebo in preventing the illness.

How The Pandemic Has Affected Patients In Hospice Care

4:51pm June 03, 2020

by Deborah Amos

The coronavirus crisis has left little to no time for important discussions with those in hospice care — about whether they want the treatment that could save them or wish to do without it.

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