The Unlikely Rise Of Science And Digital Health During COVID-19

Over the past weeks, we have covered many aspects of coronavirus. From symptoms and digital health technologies, artificial intelligence, the rise of telemedicine and investigating why some countries have managed to keep the pandemic under control, through issues of privacy and mental challenges of healthcare professionals. We analyzed the possible outcomes of what will, what can and what should change in our lives after COVID-19 and even created a Handbook on the fight against the pandemic.

But one of the most important aspects in all this is how different leaders around the world have responded to this pandemic. Were they brave and courageous or are they hiding the truth from us? Do they know what to do at all? And indeed, as for ourselves, what exactly do we expect from our leaders in such ill-fated times? People need trust, clear guidance and strong leadership, as our leaders should show us a pathway out of all this. And how can we get out of a situation that is caused by a deadly virus? Yes – with the clear reasoning of scientists.

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It’s rather interesting how the world changes with the pandemic. There is a strict line between our lives before and the one since. Before, in the pre-COVID-19-world of the 21st century we were too comforted by our wealth; it was easy to turn a blind eye on catastrophic economic decisions, defunded healthcare systems, and outright suicidal environmental policies.

Our everyday well-being made us careless, no wonder an entire generation of Greta Thunbergs call us ignorant – rightfully so. Populist politicians pushed science in the ‘other’ corner, making scientists’ opinion just another voice in the canon, and we failed to protest for them. Our main information-sources were influencers and youtubers and celebrities. Rarely, gurus. More often, make-up experts. (And sometimes, cats.) In the age of populism and fake news, scientists as the voices of reason were not heard. How sad we had to experience a global pandemic to start listening to science again – to a few people in particular.

The Reassuring Pragmatist

Source: nbcnews.com

Who? Anthony Fauci

What? Comforting America

What he believes in? Testing and lockdowns

In the post-COVID-19 world we can see the rise of science once again. At times of an emergency we all need honest, scientifically-based real facts to bring us hope, calm and clarity. In the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci has become the poster figure of such scientific realism. The 79-year old physician and immunologist, who started his governmental service under Ronald Reagan, is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and his daily appearances as the lead member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force gave him an unexpected superstardom. Why? “With all due respect, I served six presidents and I have never done anything other than tell the exact scientific evidence and made policy recommendations based on the science and the evidence.” 

That is why. He is a person who does his job well and doesn’t care about the consequences. He often steps in front of Donald Trump to add clarifications on what the President just said. (Thank goodness for that.) And even if he’s not saying anything, his facial expressions are quite revealing. His reassuring words glue us to the TV every day, offering real, science-backed hope in dark times. At least until recently. Last week he only appeared at the briefing once, when he corrected the President who said he’s not expecting coronavirus to return in the fall. His bravery (can also be said, pragmatism ) has made him the most trusted leader on coronavirus in the US according to a recent poll. Hopefully he can keep his job and keep on guiding us onto the right pathway.

The Analyst Rockstar

Photo: San Diego Magazine

Who? Eric Topol

What? Analysing everything and sharing on Twitter

What he believes in? Interpreting Medical Studies

Historically, since the 1930s science and engineering have been in the frontline of public awareness. Those forty-something years really earned their nickname, the Golden Age of Science. This era showed gigantic advancement in many fields, including the molecular basis of biology and the nature of diseases, applying science for the enrichment of humankind. Its scientists, from Einstein and Oppenheimer to the Martians (Teller, von Neumann, Szilard, Wigner, von Kármán and the others) were indeed considered something like rockstars. In our age, this superstardom of a scientist must be thought of by a magazine. This has happened to the American Eric Topol, who earned his rockstar image from GQ Magazine, in an attempt to raise knowledge and reputation of scientists. 

Recently, his image needs no magazine-brushing. Due to his expert analyses and remarks, he has become a thought leader on COVID-19 in the States and beyond over the past months. He works on genomic and wireless digital innovative technologies to reshape the future of medicine, and wrote three best selling books about the future of healthcare. But he is not being followed because of that. Living up to his “poster child” scientist image, he's incredibly active on social media (“every one of that 18.000 tweets come from me”), followed by over 230k people on Twitter only. 

With him being such an information addict as he says he reads everything, we can be assured his radar-eyes see all that is worth checking. Therefore his views and analyses on the virus, its curves and its testing are definitely something to follow. He was quick to point out the fact that telemedicine will be essential during COVID-19 (and later showed figures that implied it really is), created charts, continuously analyzed curves and reviewed possible treatments. Too bad he’s only following the world with a U.S. focus, for we’d need someone like him in every single country. 

The Soulful Networker

Photo: Pictorial Collective

Who? László-Albert Barabási

What? Data, big data, bigger data

What he believes in? Networking, obviously

Under the pressure for scientific wizardry in finding a vaccine, there’s a group in Boston, led by renowned network scientist Albert-László Barabási, that identified a list of drugs that are likely to be effective for treating COVID-19 patients. Using network medicine, A.I. and a fusion of the two, Barabási named 81 potential drugs that could help – in the matter of ten days. Building a global network to speed up the process of finding the possible vaccine, Barabási made all predicted repurposable drugs and network-predicted drug combinations to be freely accessed. 

Before COVID-19, Barabási’s lab was working on a project to catalogue and map all the chemicals in our food, to understand how and why people get sick, and even before that, he used network science to discover what makes an artist successful, and, ultimately, who will succeed, and who’ll fail. (After studying half-million artists over a span of 36 years Barabási revealed that success isn’t about the performer: it’s defined by the audience). All these crowd-pleasing studies made Barabási already a star among scientists. In a since many times quoted post on Facebook back in March he was among the first ones writing down on what to be expected from coronavirus, an interesting reflection for his own 53rd birthday. 

In the post (available in his native Hungarian) he describes his feelings towards the future that is actually being rewritten: “I turned 53 today and I have plenty of dreams for the next two decades. So today I am mostly trying to think of the future when there will be tests, vaccinations and medicine. When nothing prevents us from going back to our old lives and when we realize that it can’t come back. For the future, the foundations of which, voluntarily or unintentionally, we began to dig two weeks ago. In part, I’m trying to figure out what it will look like. But most of all, what I can do now is to have the future we want to live in.” If such scientists help us rewrite our lives, maybe we’re on a good path.

The Guy Who Told You So

Photo: Jason Madara

Who? Larry Brilliant

What? Eradicating COVID-19 just like smallpox

What he believes in? Vaccination. And the human soul

And now let’s talk about that particular vaccine-issue. There seems to be no better person to turn to in this case than to a brilliant mind: Dr. Larry Brilliant. The epidemiologist, who helped eradicate smallpox is absolutely confident that the COVID-19 vaccine is coming. More than one kind, as a matter of fact, and possibly within the next 12-18 months (as of March). As for how to stop the spread of coronavirus, and how to abolish it just as smallpox, he methodically details a three-tiered approach to combating this health threat: 1. vaccination and herd immunity, 2. proper protection to prevent spread including masks and gloves, and 3. the technology tools that can track illness and infection. 

In a TED talk almost fifteen years ago, Brilliant actually forecasted a pandemic pretty similar to COVID-19, of which he recently said it’s the most dangerous pandemic in our lifetime. A novel virus that led to this unprecedented situation, but one which also provides an opportunity for humanity to change, and “see ourselves more alike than different.”

The One With The Most Quotes

Source: ceu.edu

Who? Yuval Noah Harari

What? Looking at history and the future of Humankind

What he believes in? Trust and information. But not surveillance.

You must know you’ve reached scientific superstardom if James Corden asks for an interview. Luckily not a singalong, the comedian called philosopher Yuval Noah Harari on the show to talk about COVID-19's impact on humankind. Harari is recently quoted pretty much everywhere, from newsrooms to thousands of Coelho-esque pinterest quotes. In these interviews he speaks about populism and irresponsible politicians who deliberately undermine the trust in public authorities and science in the media, and now we’re paying the price for it. “In normal times maybe you can run a country when only half the population trusts the government. But in an emergency you need 100% of the people to trust the government.” 

Luckily he says, he feels a deep trust in science, despite these attacks on it over the past decade. Hopefully, this trust will remain when scientists talk about ecological collapse or climate change, and they will be able to live up to the expectations. In a piece written for Time magazine, Harari calls for international cooperation and information sharing, as well as global solidarity. But without a global leading body or government, he misses crucial leadership in the handling of the epidemic. Disunity and mistrust are more contagious than any virus – and there is no vaccine for that. 

So what's next?

It is clear that scientists are now gaining momentum, but this moment has its challenges. The whole world is watching closely if they really can give the good answer to the global emergency, and since the public is used to ready-made fast responses, they have no patience to wait for the “proper” scientific answer. Institutions, universities, big pharma and even startups are all working to find the cure, but that isn’t as simple as that. Admitting that even with the fastest development, a vaccine won’t be ready before next summer (even that would be like magic), the public is waiting for this wizardry much faster than it possibly can be done.

Will there be a global leader on COVID-19? Will there be someone stepping up, representing the reasoning of science with the empathy of a philosopher, analytic skills like a network scientist, doing his/her job well, bearing in mind but not fearing consequences… Hopefully soon there will be someone.

As for now, we have only seen one person completely fitting into these shoes.

In a speech early April this particular someone delivered everything that’s actually needed from a leader during a crisis like this. This person helped us all put things in context, thanking and appreciating everyone fighting on the frontlines, acknowledging the struggle of everyday people who are trying to make ends meet during the lockdowns. And most importantly, this person gave hope, reassuring everyone that everything will be better and life will return to normal, eventually. This person was Her Majesty the Queen. And we’re looking forward to the next leader to step up and do the same.

Dr. Bertalan Mesko, PhD is The Medical Futurist and Director of The Medical Futurist Institute analyzing how science fiction technologies can become reality in medicine and healthcare. As a geek physician with a PhD in genomics, he is a keynote speaker and an Amazon Top 100 author.

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