Covid-19 patients who are getting an experimental drug called remdesivir have been recovering quickly, with most going home in days

Beware small single trials, especially ones like this with no control group.

If you flip a coin 10000 times, you're likely to get ten heads in a row one day.

There are going to be tens of thousands of small experiments and trials over the next few years. Statistically, a certain number of useless or dangerous ones will have amazing results out of pure luck. Some promising treatments will have poor results out of luck. The key is rigorous testing.

Trump and the anti-vax medical truther crowd are fuelling magical thinking by claiming this and that unproven treatment. The fact is there is no silver bullet, no deep state plot to cover it up, no Facebook post that knows better than your doctor. People have already harmed themselves by self-administering unproven treatments believing them to be a magic cure.

We can't afford to jump at shadows and look to snake oil in a pandemic.

The more we do so, the less people will trust real, evidence based treatments when are ready come out. We should take all these stories with a grain of salt.

I hope this treatment is proved useful, but we just don't know yet.

WHAT ACTUALLY WORKS:

Stay the fuck home and act as though you already have the virus

Wash your hands and disinfect regularly

wear a mask when in public (home-made is ok of you don't already have medical grade - leave stock for essential service workers and vulnerable people rather than buying it now)

check in on vulnerable people you know (remotely) to make sure they're ok.

exercise, maintain a healthy sleep schedule and eat healthy food as much as possible

seek medical advice if you start to feel symptoms