A Cheap Steroid May Help Worst COVID-19 Patients

An inexpensive steroid called dexamethasone has been shown to reduce deaths by one third for critically ill coronavirus patients on ventilators and 20% among patients receiving oxygen. This according to a report by Business Insider.

"This is a huge breakthrough in our search for new ways to successfully treat patients with COVID, both in the UK and across the world," the National Health Service's medical director, Stephen Powis is quoted as saying by Business Insider.

Unfortunately the treatment doesn't really help the COVID-19 sufferer who isn't on oxygen or a ventilator.

The UK's National Health Services approved the drug as a standard treatment for coronavirus patients. It should be noted the approval of the drug came before the study's data has been published in a peer review journal and didn't include information on the frequency or severity of side effects.

On a day where I'm seeing a variety of stories on the coronavirus in the news:

• Increasing COVID-19 cases in Branson since the tourist town reopened.
• One expert declaring that the second wave of the coronavirus is in Kansas City.
• Boone County's Health Director saying the county will have some sort of coronavirus rules for most of the summer.

It's nice to see some good news about the virus. We're not completely out of the woods here in Pettis and Johnson counties either even though COVID-19 restrictions in the state and in Pettis and Johnson County are ending today.

As Johnson County Community Health Services and Pettis County Health Center remind us in their press releases marking the end of restrictions. Continue to practice social distancing. Wear a mask. Keep yourself safe. The coronavirus is still here, even though the restrictions aren't.