Coronavirus

Hillary Ammon of the Perelman School of Medicine spoke about the shame and guilt that sometimes accompany a COVID-19 diagnosis. “I like to tell clients that I am working with that they made the best decision they could with the information they had at that present time,” she said. “Additionally, reminding them that their risk and safety calculations are personal and unique to their life circumstances.”

Susan Weiss of the Perelman School of Medicine weighed in on the proposed development of a therapeutic that uses the body’s interferon response to fight viruses. “I’m not sure what practical application this would have as an antiviral,” she said.

Richard Doty of the Perelman School of Medicine said it’s still not clear if the SARS-CoV-2 virus enters the olfactory bulbs, causing people with COVID-19 to lose their sense of smell. “The herpes virus can get into the brain through the olfactory pathway, so it's not beyond a possibility. But the jury's still out on whether the olfactory bulbs play a role,” he said.

Ethan Craig of the Perelman School of Medicine said the pandemic’s end will be gradual. “There will be no banners flying in the street, no parade, no V-J Day in Times Square moments,” he said. “Rather, it will end with a critical mass of small lurches toward normalcy, made by each and every one of us, one small decision at a time.”

Harsha Thirumurthy of the Perelman School of Medicine said vaccine patents keep prices artificially high by limiting other countries’ ability to manufacture vaccines. “I think we had the best hope of it last year when there was a proposal that was put forward at the WTO and the Biden administration had supported it,” he said. “But we had European countries that objected to those patent waivers.”

E. John Wherry of the Perelman School of Medicine said a person’s immunity to COVID-19 depends on “the number of exposures [to the spike protein], and time since last exposure.”

Courtney Boen of the School of Arts & Sciences and Carolyn Cannuscio of the Perelman School of Medicine wrote an opinion piece arguing that the blame for school closures should be placed on policymakers, not educators. “Only when we stem the tide of infections and flatten the curve will schools be able to function,” they wrote.

E. John Wherry of the Perelman School of Medicine commented on a study from the CDC that compared the efficacy of vaccines and prior infections in preventing COVID-19. “The bottom-line message is that from symptomatic COVID infection you do generate some immunity," said Wherry. “But it’s still much safer to get your immunity from vaccination than from infection.”

Michael David of the Perelman School of Medicine explained why there are few concrete guidelines regarding asymptomatic COVID-19 infections. “Currently, there are no data available to define ‘asymptomatic,’ which can be different in different people, given that many have chronic respiratory symptoms as baseline, from congestive heart failure to allergies,” he said.