Rapid responses are electronic comments to the editor. They enable our users
to debate issues raised in articles published on bmj.com. A rapid response
is first posted online. If you need the URL (web address) of an individual
response, simply click on the response headline and copy the URL from the
browser window. A proportion of responses will, after editing, be published
online and in the print journal as letters, which are indexed in PubMed.
Rapid responses are not indexed in PubMed and they are not journal articles.
The BMJ reserves the right to remove responses which are being
wilfully misrepresented as published articles or when it is brought to our
attention that a response spreads misinformation.
From March 2022, the word limit for rapid responses will be 600 words not
including references and author details. We will no longer post responses
that exceed this limit.
The word limit for letters selected from posted responses remains 300 words.
Dr Karan says "For a physician, one of the hardest parts of the covid-19 pandemic was watching patients get steadily sicker and often die." Herein lies the key question - if SARS-CoV-2 did not make people seriously ill, would its spread really matter? And if, nonetheless, it did make people seriously ill then why has there been another failure - a failure to examine why in a timely fashion, a failure to employ predictive diagnostic tests and a failure to employ aggressive treatments.
My problem is that I recommended all of these on the basis of existing evidence near the beginning of the pandemic but was not listened to. As we rake over the errors, not least in the UK public inquiry that will begin shortly, we must not omit this aspect or we will be doomed to repeat history.
Re: We cannot afford to repeat these four pandemic mistakes
Dear Editor,
Dr Karan says "For a physician, one of the hardest parts of the covid-19 pandemic was watching patients get steadily sicker and often die." Herein lies the key question - if SARS-CoV-2 did not make people seriously ill, would its spread really matter? And if, nonetheless, it did make people seriously ill then why has there been another failure - a failure to examine why in a timely fashion, a failure to employ predictive diagnostic tests and a failure to employ aggressive treatments.
My problem is that I recommended all of these on the basis of existing evidence near the beginning of the pandemic but was not listened to. As we rake over the errors, not least in the UK public inquiry that will begin shortly, we must not omit this aspect or we will be doomed to repeat history.
Competing interests: No competing interests