What I Learned by Reading Hundreds of COVID-19 Research Studies

I’ve scanned the latest science almost every day for nine months. Three themes kept coming up.

Brian Owens 29 Dec 2020 | Hakai Magazine
2020 was a huge year for science and research. Photo by Darryl Dyck, the Canadian Press.


For the better part of the past year, I have spent almost every day reviewing the latest scientific papers on the COVID-19 pandemic — everything from the nitty gritty science of virology, immunology and epidemiology, to studies of how the pandemic is affecting our societies and mental health — and summarizing the most interesting and important ones for this column. It’s been a lot to take in and I’ve learned a great deal, but through it all a few common themes and ideas keep coming up. Here are the three biggest things that I’ve learned from almost nine months of reporting on pandemic science.

First, big world-spanning disasters like pandemics strip away the Band-Aids and reveal a society’s weaknesses. In Canada, and other wealthy countries, the biggest weaknesses are the economic and racial fault lines running through our society, and how we treat our elderly.

COVID-19 hit poor people, Indigenous communities and racialized communities especially hard, both in terms of health and economic effects. While most of the data comes from the United States, there is evidence in Canada as well that people of colour are more susceptible to the virus — and at higher risk of complications and death — than white people. Following physical distancing rules was often more difficult, for example, because many people of colour worked in jobs considered essential, such as those in health care, sanitation, delivery services, and grocery stores. Plus, years of economic deprivation and systemic racism have left some people with more underlying health conditions that put them at higher risk of COVID-19.

Likewise, the pandemic revealed just how insufficient our society’s way of dealing with the elderly is, with inadequate investment in nursing homes leaving these facilities unable or unprepared to deal with a deadly infectious disease. Even the measures we adopted to protect them, cutting off most contact with the outside world, left residents more vulnerable to mental health problems such as loneliness and depression. If we are going to “build back better,” our highest priorities must include dealing with poverty, racism and ageism.

Second, it became obvious just how much science can accomplish when given the motivation and support to deal with big existential problems. The virus was first identified in China about one year ago, and already people are starting to receive one of several new vaccines that appear to be even more effective than some of the most optimistic predictions from last spring. This was never a sure thing; there has never been a successful vaccine against a coronavirus — such as SARS or MERS — and some doubted whether it would be possible for this one. But major investments of time, money and effort from scientists, drug companies and governments resulted in the fastest vaccine development project in history, one that will undoubtedly save countless lives.

And it’s not just vaccines. Scientists have also developed drugs to treat the disease, they hacked together ventilators and other vital equipment when there was a shortage early on and they created a wide array of ever faster, cheaper and more accurate tests. Most of the tests, however, are not yet available in Canada and other countries, but will be soon. Let’s remember just how resourceful and creative we can be when we work together, as we move from the pandemic to dealing with that other existential threat we face, and which has not gone away: climate change.

Finally, while science can do great things, it’s fallible. Whenever we ask questions of science, the answers we get back are always partial, and sometimes wrong. We have seen this over and over again during the pandemic, as new information overtakes the old, or once promising avenues of investigation turn out to be dead ends. Early on, with little information about how the virus spread, public health officials emphasized disinfecting surfaces and discouraged mask-wearing, in part to conserve limited supplies of protective equipment for health-care workers. But as we learned more, that advice changed — we now know that airborne transmission is much more important than transmission from surfaces, and masks are one of the most effective protective measures we can take, alongside hand-washing and physical distancing.

Similarly, in the early days of the pandemic, doctors tried any kind of treatment they could think of to save patients, but some ideas that showed early promise were ineffective. The hype around the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine quickly died away — despite the efforts of a committed band of boosters including Donald Trump — when more rigorous testing showed it didn’t work. Even remdesivir, the Ebola drug that has become a frontline therapy for COVID-19, is on shaky ground, with the World Health Organization recently recommending against its use.

Some of the confusion is ongoing, with scientists still investigating and debating exactly how the virus jumped from animals to people, how it is mutating and evolving, and how long natural or vaccine-induced immunity will last. The answers to some of these questions may only come long after the pandemic is firmly in the past, or not at all. While most people think of science as something that provides solid answers, the pandemic has reminded us that it is a messy process, and the answers it gives are always just a provisional explanation based on the best information we have so far.

Although it may feel like we are rounding a corner as the first doses of vaccines go out, there is still much to learn about the virus and how it is affecting our bodies and our society. In 2021, I will continue to keep track of all the latest developments, and share them with you to try and help demystify the science around this disease.

Brian Owens is a freelance science writer and editor based in St. Stephen, New Brunswick. His work has appeared in Hakai Magazine, Nature, New Scientist, the Canadian Medical Association Journal and the Lancet.