Corona Season

Today is March 28, 2020. It has been a full week since the COVID-19 reached its peak. During this period, the number of diagnosed viruses in the United States has exceeded 100,000, ranking first in the world.

A friend of my mother, a doctor in New York, has told us that the number of inpatients in the hospital system today is 100 more than that of yesterday, with a total of 1,229 patients. The critical rate remains stable at 20% -22%, with all critical patients supported by ventilator. However, some good news: the FDA quickly approved the Abbott’s rapid diagnostic system. The machine weighs only six pounds and can be used in a variety of situations. Some new features include a blood test: a drop of blood yielded a positive result in five minutes and a negative result in 13 minutes. A staggering production of 50,000 machines a day will be very useful. With the company’s new detection system, the capacity of these machines can test five million people a day, meaning that it will only take a brief two days to test all the eight million people of New York. However, the hospital lacks cotton swabs for testing, meaning that all other respiratory pathogen tests that require the same cotton swabs had to be suspended.

Currently the federal government has distributed 8,000 strategic reserve ventilators to various places. The government required nearly 10 companies to vigorously produce ventilators, with a target of production of 100,000 machines in the next three months. The current prediction is that New York needs 30,000 ventilators. Due to this huge need of production, there is bound to be some companies that do not cooperate because of previous economic beliefs they had set and personal, necessary economic expectations they have to accomplish. General GM’s head refused to cooperate with the production of ventilators. Today, the government imposed a requirement for them to produce and then waited for their response.

During the press conference today, Trump said that he called to ask the British Prime Minister how his country was doing. The Prime Minister responded that they also need ventilators. This not only shows how many the UK is in need of ventilators but also countries around the world who are suffering from this pandemic.

With some other news, the problem of a shortage of surgical masks in hospitals around the world has been solved. However, the N95 masks are still needed. Apple, the US Postal Service, Merck, and other companies all donated masks.

Many companies throughout the world are cooperating together and separately to create solutions to combat this virus. Columbia University College of Engineering’s 3D printed masks have been officially launched and can print 3,000 a day. Boeing assisted three planes specifically to transport medical supplies around. A few days ago, the governor of New York called for more medical staff. Ten thousand retired medical staff in New York State were enlisted within 24 hours. There are now 60,000 medical staff nationwide signing up to support New York. JetBlue airlines offered free aircraft delivery in order to support this movement. Hertz offers free car rental. Four Seasons Hotel opens all hotels for medical staff.

On the other hand, I also see different opinions. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated ironically that Trump had finally made “America the number one in the world!” Some Chinese patients who have just been released from hospitals and recovering from the pandemic are even ridiculing that the “Americans will not copy the homework written by the Chinese…” However, I want to point out that the base of confirmed cases in the United States is based on extensive testing and China’s figures are based on a fake report and these numbers cannot be compared.

This reminds me of the recent news about Gilead, an American biotechnology company in the United States. On March 25th, Gilead issued a statement requesting the FDA to withdraw the “orphan drug” status and announced that it will waive all preferential rights related to the “orphan drug” status. An “orphan drug” is a drug developed to treat medical conditions, but because of their rarity, needs government assistance in order for the company to be profitable. Gilead stated that their company was confident that they could maintain the accelerated completion of the regulatory review process for Remdesivir even in the absence of orphan drug eligibility. The recent exchanges between the company and the regulatory agency indicate that applications and reviews related to the treatment of COVID-19 by Remdesivir will be accelerated. The company also stated that they would reorganize the urgent public health needs of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company is advancing the development of Remdesivir as fast as possible. As a state-sponsored non-profit institution, the Borui Biomedical quickly rushed to obtain the patent of Remdesivir for their personal benefit in order to create and imitate the drug – Redecive; while as a for-profit company, Gilead took the initiative to give up the patent.

The chairman of the Abbott, a rapid diagnostic company, is also the chairman of the board of directors for my school, Culver Academics. What we are usually taught in life is to be our best and to help others in need. At this moment of the epidemic, all I think about is what I can do for this society and what I can do for those around me. My BambooClub raised $3,520 on GoFundMe’s fundraising website. I led club members to purchase masks, disinfectants, gloves, and alcohol cotton through various channels, and shipped them to Shanghai Huashan Hospital and the nearby San Diego Scripps Green hospital, near my San Diego home.

The epidemic is our common enemy, and the survival and health of humankind is our top priority. At this time, I couldn’t understand how politicians ridiculed and mocked each other for their own votes. I also couldn’t understand that countries closed their doors and did not share pathological information about the virus. I also couldn’t predict when countries, political parties, and the public would consider their own interests. How long will the epidemic last? However, Gilead and Abbott tell us that at a crisis, human beings are a community, resources must be shared, individuals are part of society, and a cooperative society is the future of the planet. The COVID-19 taught us this.

Because of the spread of this pandemic, mankind is currently encountering unprecedented challenges. There are also countless predictions by people saying that the pattern of the world will change dramatically after this pandemic is over. But no matter what, two things are bound to happen. The first is that human beings have encountered countless disasters for thousands of years, but disasters will always pass, and humanity as a whole is constantly progressing.