Three ways to fight covid: restriction, treatment, vaccination

The SARS-CoV-2 is a new coronavirus about which there is still a lot we don't know. These months, however, we have learned a lot about it, and it is clear that there are basically three ways to fight it. The first way is the classic one that mankind has used over the centuries: restrictions and lockdown measures, distance, and hygiene. This was practically the only system we had at the beginning, and it is still the main one. But it was difficult to implement it because of its devastating economic effects. It is this dilemma, or rather, this balance, that has led several countries and communities to opt for different strategies when it comes to applying restrictions.

In the dossier on the management of the pandemic that we present today, where we approach the three paths against covid in various ways, the debate on restrictions is explained based on the comparison between Catalonia and the Community of Madrid. The aim was to see what repercussions this different way of approaching the restrictions had, with more restaurants and shops opening in Madrid than in Catalonia. From the data and expert analysis we have seen so far, the result is that the percentage of deaths is higher in the community led by Isabel Díaz Ayuso, between 20% and 50% more, depending on whether you take the indicators of the ministry or those of the Civil Registry. It remains to be seen whether the economy has been saved more in Madrid, which we do not yet have data on, but there is no doubt that more lives have been saved in Catalonia, both in absolute figures and in proportion to the number of inhabitants.

The other way of combating covid, with treatments, is what has allowed mortality in hospitals to fall drastically: it has gone from being over 80% in patients admitted to the ICU in the first wave, to 15% or 20% today. The virus is now better understood, and so are the drugs that help reduce symptoms, although a truly effective antiviral has not yet been found. There are 200 clinical trials underway, but this is the great unfinished business of the pandemic.

Efforts have been concentrated on vaccines, and here, despite the logical problems of production and distribution in a global and complex campaign like this one, progress is being made with new products that are being added to those already approved, and with provisional results of efficacy in countries like Israel that are encouraging in preliminary studies. All three paths are working, albeit still with problems, and it is essential that they are combined to achieve the ultimate goal of Covid-0. Only then, when the virus stops circulating or is easily controllable with screening and monitoring measures, will we be able to claim victory, and one day return to what we call normality.