LACKAWANNA COUNTY, Pa. — The U.S. Department of Health has launched “Combat COVID,” a way for people to get more information about COVID-19, treatment options and details about clinical research trials.
“The news about delta variant and the news about how there’s other places across the world that are locking down really brings to the fire why we need new treatments. People are still getting infected," said Dr. David Wohl of UNC Infectious Diseases.
There are vaccines for COVID-19, but doctors say even now, there are not many treatments for the virus itself, and they need to change that.
They say research is key, and getting COVID-19 survivors like those in northeastern and central Pennsylvania into clinical trials is the only way to make it work.
“Right now, if you call up your doctor and say, 'I was just diagnosed with COVID, I feel crappy,' there’s nothing she can call in to a pharmacy to make you feel better. We need treatments for COVID," said Dr. Wohl.
Dr. Wohl adds that researchers are on the verge of developing new treatments in the near future.
"Right now, there is only one drug approved to treat people with COVID-19, and that’s only for people who are in the hospital. For people outside the hospital, there is really very little.”
Dr. Wohl said the clinical trials right now are large, with thousands of people participating, but they need more.
There’s more information at these websites: RiseAboveCOVID and CombatCOVID.