There is no _cure_ and none is imminent, but good people are working on that, so let's forget about cures for now. A definitive test is a nicety but not a requirement.
Hospitalization should be symptom-based rather than disease-specific. It matters not if disease is a consequence of Covid-19, SARS or bacterial infection - in all cases the individual needs hospitalization and observation.
We should focus on what remains: managing the outbreak. People fall into two categories:
- Those who can easily die from this flu (or some other flu, e.g., SARS): the elderly, the immune-compromised, those with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, and cancer.
- Everyone else.
The hospital care gatekeepers' protocol:
Those patients who exhibit signs of the terminal phase of flu/pneumonia should be quarantined: hospitalized, observed and treated until they are out of danger (or die). This is the phase where specialized drugs: antivirals, antiinflammatories et al are used.
Those patients who do not exhibit signs of the later phase of flu/pneumonia should be sent home with instructions.
It seems that this is well within our capabilities: we have the knowledge to manage the outbreak, we have the skills and we have the hospital beds. If we need more hospital beds it should be easy to turn various facilities into temporary hospitals in short order. We have organizations that do this for other disasters: tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, etc.
Passengers on cruise ships should be examined by gatekeepers and either released or hospitalized.
I've got friends calling and panicking over this unnecessarily. I see people on TV saying "We don't even have tests!" when tests IMO are not necessary.
We have all we need to handle this - let's do it.
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