Success of Covid antiviral pills hinges on access to speedy, accurate tests

Photo caption: A health care worker uses a nasal swab to test for COVID-19… Photo credit: Joe Raedle / Getty Images. Article by JoNel Aleccia, Kaiser Health News. NBC News – November 20, 2021.

The promising antiviral drugs to treat Covid can halt hospitalizations and deaths, but only if they’re given to patients within three to five days of their first symptoms.

Within a few weeks, perhaps before many Americans finish decorating for the holidays, the U.S. could have access to a new antiviral pill from Merck expected to alter the deadly trajectory of the covid-19 pandemic — with a second option from Pfizer to follow shortly after. Now under federal […]

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