Six reasons to be optimistic amid COVID-19

Although COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are rising, there is also some positive news on the horizon, according to Joseph Allen of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

In a July 14, 2020 Washington Post op-ed, Allen, assistant professor of exposure assessment science and director of the Healthy Buildings program, wrote that progress is being made in treatments, testing, and vaccines, and that there’s growing agreement about ways to curb the spread of infection.

Among positive developments, Allen cited:

• Therapeutic treatments, such as cloned antibodies, are showing to be effective both to treat and prevent COVID-19.
• Rapid, low-cost saliva tests for COVID-19 are being developed and could be a game-changer.
• Universal mask-wearing is catching on.
• Consensus has emerged that airborne spread of the coronavirus is happening, and the World Health Organization and other organizations are now recommending the use of healthy building strategies such as higher ventilation, better filtration, and the use of air-cleaning devices.
• Several studies suggest that past exposure to common-cold coronaviruses may help protect some people from COVID-19 infection.
• Vaccine trials seem to be working and drug makers have said they may be able to deliver doses as early as October.

“For the first time in history, nearly every scientist in the world is focused on the same problem,” Allen wrote. “This is starting to pay real dividends.”

Read Joseph Allen’s Washington Post op-ed: Need some good news about covid-19? Here are six reasons for optimism.