In rush to find a viable Covid-19 treatment, scientific standards are slipping
More caution, more rigour and more tightening of the peer-review system would be positive consequences of this debacle
08 June 2020 - 13:46
“Follow the science” — these are reassuring words in a pandemic like Covid-19, when widespread fear of a deadly virus can be exploited by unscrupulous politicians, snake-oil salesmen and cranks. Public trust in scientists has risen recently.
But we may be hitting the limits of this trust, just as many countries enter the crucial phase of reopening their economies with a raft of new social-distancing measures meant to ward off a second wave of infections. We’ve seen several confusing U-turns and unresolved debates on issues such as the effectiveness of cloth masks or the risks of reopening schools...
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