U.S. moves to make antiviral drug more available against COVID

An increase in cases do not necessarily means an extra burden on the health services if it is balanced with appropiate protection of the vulnerable patients with effective and safe vaccination while also supporting the sytmpomatic cases with new treatments as the article mentions. Depending on the country this can be done with better or worse efficacy but it is the approach that scientific institutions like the WHO support as the only scientifically sound response while omicron is the prevalent variant.

There are many reasons why the world economies are shrinking or experience deceleration of their growth (this applies not only to the US but also to China for example), a policy that destroy local economies is not going to improve that, specially if other approaches can reach similar or even better results without this extra burden.

Funny how they aggressively push these expensive drugs, while equally aggressively blocking or discouraging the cheap ones....

Yeah, how dare they back expensive drugs that work over cheap ones that don't. Baffling, right?

...right?

Funny how they aggressively push these expensive drugs, while equally aggressively blocking or discouraging the cheap ones....

That is false, cheap drugs that are effective treating or preventing the complications of covid are being used routinedy, like dexamethasone.

The ones being blocked are those that bring no benefit at all for the patients, and instead increase their risk.

An increase certainly doesn't make it easier.

Again, if the measures responsible for the increase are also responsible for a decrease of the burden for the health services the result is less risk for the population.

The WHO is NOT a scientific institution. It is a specialized agency of the United Nations. HUGE difference.

An agenicy of the United Nations specialized in public health and based on scientific knowledge.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3052798/

The World Health Organization (WHO) is widely regarded as the preeminent international authority on health and scientific matters

So yes, it is a scientific authority.

In the US, GDP decreased at an annual rate of 1.5% in the first quarter of this year, a drop from the previously expected decrease of 1.4% in the advanced estimate,

And it is not alone in this since the situation in the world have done the same for many other countries, this of course is not an argument that demonstrate an inefficient, widely criticized policy against covid would prevent this, on the opposite all the countries that have tried it have seen a reduction in growth.

China's economy slowed down very importantly thanks to the zero covid policy, the expected growth at the beginning of the year have been revised severely down thanks to what happened in Shanghai, thinking that this effect would be the opposite in other countries is not supported by the evidence. The media just reports what happens and what happened was a deep deceleration of the economy thanks to this ineffective policy.

But not a scientific institution as you originally claimed, right?

Yes, it is a scientific institution, else it could not become a scientific authority. This should be very clear.

As my sources show, you are wrong.

Your sources do not demonstrate this is wrong, it is completely true.

https://www.fitchratings.com/research/sovereigns/china-2022-growth-forecast-cut-amid-covid-19-outbreaks-03-05-2022

If the condition to keep the projected growth is to abandon the zero covid policy it is clear this will not be kept.

More federally supported sites are set to open in the coming weeks in Massachusetts and New York City, both hit by a marked rise in infections.

These states with skyrocketing infection rates are ignoring the simplest approach--limit the number of infections. China has the right plan; zero covid policy resulting in the lowest infection rate in the world.

An increase in cases do not necessarily means an extra burden on the health services

An increase certainly doesn't make it easier.

scientific institutions like the WHO 

The WHO is NOT a scientific institution. It is a specialized agency of the United Nations. HUGE difference.

There are many reasons why the world economies are shrinking or experience deceleration of their growth (this applies not only to the US but also to China for example),

In the US, GDP decreased at an annual rate of 1.5% in the first quarter of this year, a drop from the previously expected decrease of 1.4% in the advanced estimate,

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/us-economy-contracts-faster-than-anticipated-in-q1-bureau-of-economic-analysis/ar-AAXLZdH

You are mistaken about China; no matter how the media tries to play down China's economic growth the facts are:

China's economy started the year on a bright note, with several major indicators beating forecasts. 

Retail sales rose 6.7% in the first two months of 2022 compared to a year ago, 

Industrial production jumped 7.5% during the same period, surpassing the forecast of 3.9%.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/14/economy/china-jan-feb-economy-challenges-ahead-intl-hnk/index.html

·First-quarter GDP rose by 4.8%, topping expectations of a 4.4% increase from a year ago, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics Monday.

 Fixed asset investment for the first quarter rose by 9.3% from a year ago, topping expectations for 8.5% growth.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/18/china-economy-q1-gdp-beats-expectations-to-grow-4point8percent-yoy.html

An agenicy of the United Nations specialized in public health and based on scientific knowledge.

But not a scientific institution as you originally claimed, right?

So yes, it is a scientific authority.

But not a scientific institution as you originally claimed, right?

Because no one else mentioned "scientific authority" other than you, trying to make it seem there is support for your statement.

China's economy slowed down very importantly thanks to the zero covid policy, the expected growth at the beginning of the year have been revised severely down thanks to what happened in Shanghai,

As my sources show, you are wrong.

Funny how they aggressively push these expensive drugs, while equally aggressively blocking or discouraging the cheap ones....

The White House on Thursday announced more steps to make the antiviral treatment Paxlovid more accessible across the U.S. as it projects COVID-19 infections will continue to spread over the summer travel season.

Of course the infections will spread this summer. The US, like many Western countries, is seeing cases rise right now, because those countries do not have a strategy that tries to contain or limit Covid infections, and the results, in addition to the massive drain on the health of the citizens and the drain on the healthcare systems, is also a decline in economic growth.

In the US, COVID-19 cases are back on the rise.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2022/05/18/omicron-waning-immunity-rising-covid-cases/9823740002/

And the US economy is suffering:

US economy shrank in the first three months of the year 

https://nypost.com/2022/05/26/us-economy-shrank-by-1-5-in-first-quarter-first-drop-in-gdp-since-pandemic/

China, by contrast, with its zero covid policy, saw fewer Covid related deaths yesterday than in Japan, and its first quarter GDP actually was higher than Western analysts predicted.