OPINION: The curve of the Covid-19 pandemic has been flattened in many countries, and it hasn’t been new antivirals or a vaccine that has done it, according to Tammy Hoffmann and Paul Glasziou.
We are being saved by non-drug interventions such as quarantine, social distancing, handwashing, and - for health-care workers - masks and other protective equipment.
Across all health research, non-drug interventions are the subject of about 40% of clinical trials. Yet they receive far less attention than drug development and testing. You might think handwashing, masks and social distancing are simple things and don’t need research. In fact, non-drug interventions are often very complex.
We found a messy and varied bunch of trials, many of low quality or small sample size, and for some types of interventions, no randomised trials.
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