What are the next stages for the American Lung association at this point?
Part of what we have been trying to do throughout the whole pandemic is to try to distribute trusted and useful information about the disease that it is important for the public to recognize. When there is such a rapid flow of information with people across the globe all talking about different aspects and manifestations of the disease, people have to try and understand what should they recognize on their own and when should they contact their physician to get treatment.
They should also be aware of the multiple clinical trials of different medications that are being looked at. Many variations of medications are being tried, and people have to be wary about the fact that whilst there are some benefits to medications, there are also risks. They need to have that informed discussion with their physicians when it comes to using medication if it is not actually been sanctioned or shown to be effective in this disease.
We are trying to improve everybody's condition despite the fact that we do not have any true treatment at this point in time. We are using the best information available to give patients the best chance of surviving.
The Lung Association has research that we fund, but we certainly do not have billions of dollars to put into research as many other companies who are developing vaccines and antivirals do. We have always felt that research is an important part of what we do, but educating the public and advocating for things such as access to care, quality of care, and making sure that disparities are diminished throughout our healthcare industry are a huge part of our mission.