Technology and Covid-19: a meteor hit our country

Abstract

“We were hit by a meteor,” Minister Paulo Guedes said on March 28, 2020. The Covid-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) pandemic caused our country to be really hit by the meteor. Until recently, associative entities of a scientific nature worked with plans and projects slowly evolving with innovations. In the field of Health, certain themes demanded greater efforts, such as technological resources, greater financial support and social appeal, or these efforts were due to a combination of these factors. Current bureaucracy, with procedures, resolutions, stamps and signatures, made innovation develop slowly and, at times, discouraging. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused different categories of scientists to get involved, causing an avalanche of serious reports and others, sometimes dubious, sound bites, comments, theories, actions and programs and projects, unprecedented in the vast majority of peoples. and nations. Innovation has become the watchword in the fight against the immense overload of hospitals and health units. Protocols and paradigms are reviewed, patents are reassessed, all in an attempt to save lives and protect the population. The production of a vaccine against Covid-19 has become the focus of research for scientists and laboratories, even though it is known that this requires a lot of time for its development, and time, in this case, is our enemy. The media praise the use of alcohol-gel for hand hygiene and masks, characterizing them as the most effective forms of prevention. On the other hand, scientific societies advocate alternative methods to alcohol gel. Chloroquine is defended and attacked in scientific circles and in popular discussions. Scientists approve!! Scientists disapprove!! Philanthropic communities and associations produce masks and surgical garments, and from 3D printers, ideas and products are born. Alternative therapies are proposed, such as the use of plasma from cured patients and ozone therapy. The off-label use of drugs is also valued as a prevention or solution, although there are questions about the lack of consistent clinical research. There is a lack of diagnostic kits in sufficient quantity to test all patients and to prove those who already have immunity. Scientists, economists, authorities, epidemiologists, media bodies and the general population take sides for or against horizontal social isolation and vertical social isolation. Several low-cost or affordable ventilation devices emerge from innovation cores. The FDA authorizes an innovative device that allows four patients to be used on a single respirator. Adidas in partnership with technology company Carbon produces 18,000 face masks a week, with the help of 3D printers. Masks that are donated to US health organizations and communities in need. Meanwhile, hospitalizations, deaths and fake news are rapidly increasing across the world. Field Hospitals are quickly built and an emblematic image circulates on the internet: in São Paulo, the traditional Pacaembu stadium was adapted to become a Field Hospital. A pandemic seems to be necessary for football stadiums to be less valued than hospitals and the health of the Brazilian population. Numerous applications are created for new customs, governments review deadlines for tax collections and create rules, aiming at the survival of jobs and small and medium-sized companies, in addition to a financial aid plan for needy communities. Bureaucracy, the misuse of public resources and the great Brazilian social abyss are crudely exposed on social networks and in the press. In this whirlwind, an email arrives for a doctor who innovated in 2010, when he deposited a patent for an instrument with a surgical purpose, granted now, in March 2020, that is, ten years later, out of all the time used in the research work. With the speed of technological development, would this patent still be useful today? It is hoped that, after the pandemic, our country has learned from the hard lesson and begins to walk, then, with a focus on social and political harmony, towards the development required by the modern world. Now is the time for everyone to unite with the purpose of promoting the integration of different scientific communities in the search for synergy of actions and solutions for the consequences of this meteor that hit our country. It is up to us all to help chart this new path.