Thanksgiving 2020 — God Save the Scientists
By: Outside Two Standard Deviations
Tags: Biotechnology, Thanksgiving, Covid 19, Doctors, Science

Grateful to the scientists and healthcare workers who have spent the last 10 months understanding COVID helping us become less fearful of it

2020 has been a difficult year for almost everyone on the planet. I am no different. Three weeks ago, my parents tested positive for COVID-19. First my mom and 3 days later my dad. My dad’s symptoms rapidly and progressively worsened enough for his PCP to recommend admitting him to the hospital. Thankfully, he responded well to one or more among the myriad of therapies the doctors threw at his body and is now recovering at home. It has been more than 14 days since he first tested positive and while he feels better, he is still positive for the virus. His body is likely still producing the antibodies and waging war against these nanoscopic particles. Tough. This feels like a weird way to begin a post about Thanksgiving. But if possible, stay with me.

I haven’t seen my parents for over a year now (428 days but who’s counting). I haven’t seen my sister for almost equally longer — 403 days and counting. A similar story rings true for my partner. She is also an internal medicine resident which means on many of the days while we have been physically apart, she has to go and treat COVID-19 patients. Her hours have been stretched to their limits, and then some, and breaks have become a mythical, non-existent event in her routine of hospital-sleep-hospital. Every single day when she goes to work, she risks picking up an infection which could wreak havoc on her immune system. And rather than being there to support her in this moment, I have to cheer from the side. All while keeping my own anxieties and fears about her catching a bad infection in check. Keeping that brave, game face on to make sure she has enough spirit to fight the good fight.

Despite my sorry and somewhat whiny tale of the last 2 paragraphs, I believe I am likely one of the luckiest and most privileged people to go through the virus. I have a well-paying job which I can do from home. I can afford to isolate to any extent I want and can tolerate. I can’t even begin to comprehend the loss felt by the numerous people who have lost their loved ones or had such a severe infection that months later they are still not healed. 2020 has really been the worst.

In light of all this, it seemed strange to me when I felt surprisingly thankful on Thursday. But I am thankful. I am sincerely, deeply thankful. Perhaps, more thankful than on any of the last seven Thanksgiving’s I have spent in the US.

I am thankful for the entire healthcare ecosystem — starting from providers such as nurses, hospital workers, physicians all the way down to laboratory scientists who have designed tests, drugs and now vaccines against this disease. They are helping us, or me at least, see some light at the end of this dark and lonely tunnel.

Firstly, I am thankful to the senior, experienced physicians who have taken on personal dangers even more than most other groups. While there is no empirical evidence I can provide for this point, I do believe that having experience helps in any job and that much more in medicine. So, many of these physicians have likely been very important in treating COVID-19 patients. Here’s what I find equally surprising and inspiring about this cohort — most of them are already wealthy so it is especially heartwarming to see them treat patients and help us solve the pandemic out of what I can imagine is mainly a true calling and an abundance of duty.

Most of all though, I am deeply grateful to science and scientists though. Many people in this group have worked at breakneck speed. This amazing cohort first came up moderately effective antivirals such as remdesivir before learning more secrets of the virus and finding especially helpful interventions such as steroids (dexamethasone being a prime example) and anticoagulants (low molecular heparin, NOACs like apixaban). Next, they armed the physicians with even more weapons — this time in form of molecular antibodies. And of course, now these brilliant folks have developed and successfully tested several COVID-19 vaccines which stand at the cusp of approval. I am so incredibly thankful and inspired by the work done by the teams at BioNTech, Pfizer, Moderna, Oxford University and AstraZeneca. Sometimes, when I look back, I am still stunned at how in just around 9 months (or the time it took me to do my master’s dissertation), the global scientific cavalry has helped us make large inroads in treating this terrible malady. Reminds of this Lenin quote (modified slightly to better suit our current situation).

“There are decades where seemingly nothing happens; and there are months where seemingly decades happen”

Just as odd as it was to begin this post by discussing how hard a year this has been, it is perhaps equally odd to praise biotech scientists and companies given I work at one of these companies. However, this pandemic has added to the pride I feel for our industry and the innovative science pursued by scientists in industry and academia is truly the beacon of light in these dark times.

Finally, I am grateful for the technologists who have come up with excellent solutions to feel together even when we are physically distanced — FaceTime, Teleparty (or Netflix party for the originalists), Zoom and the ilk. One of the shows my partner and I have recently started to watch (Teleparty!?) together is “The Crown”. Admittedly, I am not a big fan of monarchies or of the British sense of royal style and decorum — comfy shorts and a t-shirt would almost always be my choice of attire. However, inspired by my viewing habits I will take a phrase out of the British lexicon and modify it slightly for Thanksgiving this year — God save the scientists! :)